Category: Letters

J N Darby – French Letter No. 116A – Romans, Corinthians, Colossians

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

Dublin – January 1878

To Mr P

…

You see the difference there is between the epistles to the Romans, to the Ephesians, and to the Colossians. In the epistle to the Romans, man is considered as living in sin, then we are dead to sin. It is deliverance from the old man in this epistle; one is not raised with Him. In Ephesians, we are raised with Him and seated in heavenly places in Him; we are considered as dead in our sins, and all is God’s creation. In Colossians, we find the two things: “dead with Him”, the way to be delivered, “raised with him” but not seated in heavenly places. Here, man must live in the resurrection Man on earth, having his affections on things which are above where the Christ is. The inheritance is above. In Ephesians, the inheritance is all that Christ has created. Thus, we have three different aspects of the Christian life, with very instructive teachings for our walk. At the beginning of the second [epistle] to the Corinthians, we find the realisation of the epistle to the Romans: “Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body”[10]. Then God helps us in it through the circumstances by which he makes us pass. Only, in chapter 5, we have the principle of the epistle to the Ephesians: if one has died for all, then all were dead, and we find there the new creation[11]. If we grasp the significance of these truths, we understand much better what is the true character of Christianity, and its importance also. All this has been a great deal to me. The Word is adapted to our position and our circumstances down here, but it comes from above, and it brings us above. We can take it as divine light for down here or we can indeed follow it and rise up to its source. It is thus with Christ, the living Word, perfectly adapted to poor human beings. It reveals what is in heaven. For our thoughts and our prayers can take the character of one or the other, but all spiritual affections are developed when we are with Him above. Certainly, God draws the brethren to more devotion and spirituality. The Lord is also awaited more really, I believe.

 

….

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 116 – An Opened Door

Dublin – January 1878

To Mr P

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

Very dear Brother,

My voyage to the West Indies, and the excess of work during my short visit in London, have interrupted our correspondence and have hindered my writing to you. You will be surprised to learn that it is only now that I only just read your letter. As it was addressed to Mr McA, I thought that it was news of New York, of which I already had enough, and it was only when I wanted to write to him on leaving London that the mistake has come to light.

For the moment, I am in Ireland, but in several days, I depart for Germany; then, God willing, for Switzerland, France, Italy, where the work extends and where several labourers have been raised up by God.

I hope to see a few of our friends in the South of France[7], but this will be a bit later, and I would very much like to recover a bit beforehand. The Lord has been with me, and the Word still has more clarity and power for my soul; not in knowing new truths, but what had been vague and beclouded has become distinct and clear; only I would like a little peace and to make acquaintance with a lot of new brethren, the number having greatly increased. There are now three hundred meetings more or less in England; more than thirty in London and in the working class outskirts, not to speak of Ireland and Scotland where the number of them has greatly increased. It is impossible to follow it in detail, this casts us more on the Lord who alone can keep them (which is always true), and this in the midst of more snares and errors than ever. What a consolation to know that He loves His own, feeds them, cherishes them, and that He takes care of them. There is my consolation. He alone can do it, and He does it with a love which greatly surpasses all our poor thoughts.

But evil rises on all sides. Popery, heresies, unbelief, all the ripples which mark the power of the enemy, arise and roar around us, only the Lord is more powerful than all. The efforts of the enemy cause despair to gain momentum. The Lord’s silence demonstrated the calm of His power. But here He speaks.   As He has said to Philadelphia[8], He has the key of David. He sets before His own an opened door which no-one can shut, and one sees it, for the gospel is preached as it never has been, and the testimony to the truth spreads itself. But everything is getting ready for the end. It seems to me that the Lord allows unbelief as a counterweight to Popery, for Protestantism is no longer that at all.

In the midst of these floods, I find a very sweet peace; we have received a kingdom not to be shaken[9]. Never has there been such sobriety, or desire to hear the Word. The time is short; let us seek to wait for the Lord, and to serve Him until He come.

… (See 116A)

Salute the brethren. God knows if at my age I will be able to see them again. In the end, I seek as I have sought their good before God, and He is One who never leaves them. May He keep them in His grace near to Him. Peace be to you.

Yours ever affectionately

[1] in Illinois

[2] B F Pinkerton from Springfield, IL who went as a missionary to Syria, Egypt, and Palestine.

[3] see Note 24 to Letter No 13

[4] Le Midi – see Letter 105

[5] JND’s letter in Letters vol 3 p389 shows this to be Halifax, Nova Scotia

[6] Jude 3

[7] Le Midi – see Letter 105

[8] Rev 3: 7-8

[9] Heb 12: 28

[10] 2 Cor 4: 10

[11] 2 Cor 5: 15-17

 

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 112 – Ardèche and Drôme

112

London – January 1874

To Mr P

Beloved Brother;

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

I know the need of a practical ministry in the South of France[4], especially in le Gard. In l’Isère, la Drôme, dear X has been encouraged in particular in Valdrôme. He is an excellent brother, and I rejoice much in his labours, for he replaces me a bit in these regions now that I have become old. Now he has gone to Italy for he also speaks Italian. It is precisely because I knew the needs of the South of France that I have mentioned your stay in France, and be sure of it the workmen would not lack if there was more devotion. I am sure that there is indeed un-developed gift.

In the Ardèche, less is lacking but several here are put aside! This is all a subject for prayer and humiliation. Devotion brings consideration for others, the feeling of responsibility, and by this exercises of heart by which one grows. There are those who are not growing because their devotion is lacking; I could name those who for want of some little labour lose the glory and the sweetness of working for the Lord… As for visiting the South of France, during my trip, I fear undertaking too much at the same time. I must be in Italy around Easter for a small conference, and visit Switzerland on the way; then I leave for London to go to Ireland. It is possible that, on my return of Italy, I can go in France, which I will do with great pleasure.

I am relieved indeed that you will be a while in Nîmes. The loss of dear G left them very weak, but God is full of goodness.

Here the brethren go on well; there is devotedness; the world is ever to be combated, but in general there is solidity, and hearts are united. There are now more than thirty meetings in London and, I reckon, more than 3000 brethren. Who can be sufficient for looking after this, if it is not One only? Thank God, they can count on him, and this is a big comfort.

We have good news of Switzerland, and quite good of Holland. The truth makes progress in America.

Pinkerton has gone to Egypt and Syria. I was struck by his solidity and how much he has matured in the consciousness of his position. They break bread in Syria and in Alexandria; God had prepared the way. There is only a small foothold in each locality. Already there have been some persecutions; a native brother of Syria had translated tracts and the missionaries returned them. The return of P also awakened the opposition of the Presbyterians, but doors are opened to him.

Yours affectionately in Jesus
Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 113 – Perfectionism, Methodism

New York – April 1875

To Mr P

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

Beloved Brother,

… There are two brothers, one from New Jersey, the other from New England, who are disposed to labour at the work, and who read the Word with me. I hope that they will be useful. The increase in the number of workmen is always precious to me, if they are devoted. They are brothers of a calm and sensible spirit, and not lacking in intelligence. They are Americans who are to be desired in most respects.

The desire to go deeper into the Word continues in the United States. Perfectionism,(Methodicism) which misleads much of the world, awakens needs while pointing them in a wrong direction. The same sort of thing happens everywhere. On the other hand, unbelief takes over masses, but all this brings a truer, more real and more genuine Christianity, because that is what happens now.

I think a lot of France, but in general the news is good, God be blessed.

I do not know anything new about the West. Unbelief rises up boldly there, and the lack of Bible learning in the clergy is felt more and more, but the desire to be clear about the content of the Scriptures increases, and true Christians begin to be ashamed of the things that are done in the church. But Christ is all for us. Soon nothing will have value except what we will have for Him. All the rest passes and is only vanity. It is sad to see men occupied with what is going to perish.

Salute the brethren much on my behalf

Yours affectionately in Christ

 

 

J N Darby – French Letter No. 114 – Thoughts about New Zealand

Ohio – 1875

To Mr P

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

Very dear Brother,

… I can hardly give you as much news of this country as you give me from France. It is very doubtful that I will visit France now, although my heart is as attached as in the past by the work which is done, and to the brethren there, if not more so, as the Saviour becomes more precious to me. Nevertheless visits to closer lands can be made, when those that are counted by thousands of kilometres begin to become inconvenient in old age. I am even thinking of making a trip to New Zealand, which will keep me another year on this side of the Atlantic…

I may add that the needs multiply here. The Word is weighed much more than before, and the brethren have the reputation for knowing better than others.   One is occupied with them sometimes in a hostile and aggressive way it goes without saying, but one is occupied with it everywhere. May God make them faithful, that is what I ask Him now; if they are not more devoted, more separate from the world, they will be a false testimony for God. May they be kept.

Salute the brethren affectionately

Yours affectionately in Jesus

 

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 115 – More about the USA

Halifax[5] – 2nd April 1877

To Mr P

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

Very dear Brother,

I am happy that you have come to the United States.

The work of the brethren in English begins to take on some consistency so as to warn the world to be on its guard. But the French brethren need labourers. M works peacefully and usefully; L is occupied with the English. At Grand River (Detroit), things are good; I have received news about that through X, whose son has been converted.

Here the Lord is working in a cheering way, so that I have had to remain longer than I thought. In New York, the work makes progress and there is need of a labourer. I have profited from the presence of brother X to get as far as here, more than 900 miles, but God willing I will soon be in New York. I think of crossing the ocean as soon as it is good weather. They ask for me in the West, but I seriously doubt whether I am able to go there; it would be for the month of June. If the work relents in New York, it is possible that I will make this visit, but in this case I will not be in Europe until the month of July.

I have been happy to have good news of dear France; this has rejoiced my heart.

Times become sober; unbelief spreads and hinders souls, but God, His word, warns us of it. We will have combat for the faith once delivered to the saints[6], but modern unbelief seems superficial and hollow, somewhat pretentious as it may be.

I will write to you if my voyage is delayed.

Peace be with you

Yours affectionately in Jesus

 
Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 111 – News of the Work

Carlisle – 1874

Dear Mr P

Very dear Brother,

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

It does not go badly at X. God has raised up several workmen; there were some already but the wine business had done a lot of harm in this country. When I was there, although visits by brethren had been a bit revived, there was a lot of languor, even where at one time a lot of life was found. This weakness had left the door open to the entry of other Christians in the path of the work, and one could not reproach them. I thought that you could perhaps visit them.

… We have had good meetings; the Lord, in His great grace, is with me; several workmen are raised up; but there is now a mass of people who leave the systems without having well considered principles. This complicates the work a bit, but the brethren in general do not walk badly, and the work is fulfilled.

P has gone to Egypt, and R has left him and walks with the brethren; he has gone back to America.

At this time, I am making fuller acquaintance with the brethren from the north of England. We had a conference of workers during three days here, and I leave, God tomorrow willing, for Scotland. It is possible, God knows, that I will still go to America. The steam boats make regular trips between San Francisco and New Zealand.

I have good news of Switzerland. N devotes himself to the work in England, and in France we really need workers. Let us ask the Lord of the harvest. For my part, I find that everywhere where a testimony of Christ is rendered, simple and according to the fullness of grace, the attentive listeners are not lacking.

Salute the brethren affectionately… Peace be to you, dear brother, and may God direct you in your labours.

Your affectionate brother

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.
 

J N Darby – French Letter No. 110 – Sad News of a Wayward Brother

December 1873

To Mr P

Very dear Brother,

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

… He was, and I have said this to him, entirely under the influence of this guilty inclination, fallen in heart, if not in body. And when one is thus, in a state of folly and bondage: one deceives oneself, one knows it, and one deceives oneself still. And nothing astonishes me about what has created this state. Look at the beginning of the book of Proverbs; see the epistle to the Corinthians, and how the apostle goes over this point. I do not say that our brother’s soul will not be restored, but I do not know if he has recognised all his prevarication, and how he seeks to avoid the accusations, while doing evil; but once in a fault, with the reputation of Christian and minister, one is guilty of all. This is not hypocrisy, it is the deceitfulness of the flesh. It is a state of soul in those who judge and I do not believe can be the fruit of the Spirit of the Lord. To judge the act, the evil, the loss of truthfulness, everything natural is in the state where this poor friend was, is all very well. But to judge evil as severely as it deserves, is something else than to say that the one who does evil is hypocritical. I fear that he is not bottomed as he must. But there is little spiritual power to restore among the brethren. For there has been among them a very strong reaction following the great confidence they had in him. They feel wounded in their affection, their confidence betrayed. In this I sympathise with them, but their spiritual judgment will have had to rise above the inward wounds of heart. I understand them; but personal regret, however just it may be, does not suit a judge, and in this case they are in the position of judges. However, it is time that the same things are severely smitten … What heartbreak, what a humiliation, what a disgrace it is to the Lord! I am surprised at His goodness, I may say, in not judging, because if God does not keep us, we are all capable of doing this too; but it gives us to think much of the danger in which the Lord’s workmen are, and particularly when, by having superior light, they are put forward. My consolation is that the Lord manifests His government here: it is a sorrowful way to learn but the thing that one learns is very precious.

Pinkerton[2] has found much encouragement; he is now in Syria; he has imported with him a press to print tracts in Arabic; a local person is able to work with him. I have blessed God indeed. In Haifa also, he has found opened doors, this will also tend to enlarge the brethren’s horizon, although it is in a certain sense still within the kingdom.

Everywhere here where Christ is fully announced one finds a numerous and attentive audience, souls everywhere are famished. The Nationalists[3] have been compelled to begin a kind of mission in the churches, which has equally attracted a lot of the world. The floods of evil rise, but evidently God works; the Lord is waited for more. There must be much to encourage in the work here, for one can only suffer here; but He who does all will do His work …

 

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 109 – Hard going in the USA

Chicago – 1873

To Mr P

Beloved Brother,

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

I was not deceived about the localities in the West. There is everything to do; every false opinion imaginable to remove by the Word, but at least there is the desire to study it.

We have two meetings a day for lectures; the gentlemen who are active in the city come there; it seems to me that there is more attention and more sobriety than at the beginning, and I believe that there are indeed truths which penetrate into their spirits. Grace is little, or hardly known, and, when it is preached, in general it is a manner which is false. The difficulty lies in this that the first fundamental truths are false: what would be in general a point of departure still requires scriptural proofs; all is to be remedied. The truth in the beginning only confuses, because it is mixed with false ideas already received; a passage is cited to show something; it is used it to fantasise; and it has first to be made clear. All the same, progress has been made under this condition; one is more subject to the Word, and one feels that there is a power in the truth which is different from opinions.

At Springfield[1], thirty or forty people propose to meet and to allow themselves to be led by the Lord. I hope to go there soon. Other difficulties will be found there, but the Lord suffices for everything.

Here, we have had to abandon the Ephesians and take up the epistle to the Romans; there was not yet enough establishment on the foundation of the truth.

The brethren go on well, save one or two among them, come here to make their way. The world has taken possession of their hearts; there still, the Lord’s grace suffices, but they must have their experiences.

Salute the brethren affectionately.

Your affectionate brother

_hat heartbreak, what a humiliation, what a disgrace it is to the Lord! I am surprised at His goodness, I may say, in not judging, because if God does not keep us, we are all capable of doing this too; but it gives us to think much of the danger in which the Lord’s workmen are, and particularly when, by having superior light, they are put forward. My consolation is that the Lord manifests His government here: it is a sorrowful way to learn but the thing that one learns is very precious.

Pinkerton[2] has found much encouragement; he is now in Syria; he has imported with him a press to print tracts in Arabic; a local person is able to work with him. I have blessed God indeed. In Haifa also, he has found opened doors, this will also tend to enlarge the brethren’s horizon, although it is in a certain sense still within the kingdom.

Everywhere here where Christ is fully announced one finds a numerous and attentive audience, souls everywhere are famished. The Nationalists[3] have been compelled to begin a kind of mission in the churches, which has equally attracted a lot of the world. The floods of evil rise, but evidently God works; the Lord is waited for more. There must be much to encourage in the work here, for one can only suffer here; but He who does all will do His work …

 

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

J N Darby – French Letter No. 108 – A Saint taken to be with the Lord

Turin – November 1871

To Mr P

J N Darby
John Nelson Darby

Dear Brother,

If I revealed all the things that I know, I would have a lot to say; and do you know that the best means of keeping a secret is not to let it be seen that you have one? To act thus, the world deceives and speaks in a misleading way – not the Christian, because if he is content only to say what God wants him to say, he has only to be silent and if he is accustomed to acting thus, the thing becomes entirely simple …

Dear C has been taken. She left this world a very short time ago. Her husband was absent; he found her dead on his return. She died in peace; she had said, ‘I know that I am going to die, but I am peaceful: I do not say more’. There is the end of small proportions, but for some one of great proportions to this poor world.

God was revealed to her soul, then God has taken her; now she is in heaven. How histories are told in few words which on a small stage have indeed filled hearts with anxiety! If one passes through this world with God, one confides in Him, while suffering for the present things more than others suffer them. One passes through without disturbance because God is there; one is not even disturbed by anything; a soul more in heaven led by the faithful Shepherd, there is the true fact. Some souls are afflicted, this is natural in this world, as when a stone falls into the water: a little noise, some circles that spread out, then disappear. The water goes on as usual, flowing with the noise of its own. No sign of the stone remains, but there is a soul gathered to the Lord and who will no more go out of His presence! What an immense joy, what profound blessing! May the Name of the Lord be blessed. One has told me that her brother is much afflicted, that is understandable; her poor husband also surely needs our sympathies.

I will tell you, dear brother, that we are going to have, with God’s help, a study into the Word in Nîmes, for ten or twelve young brothers who have consecrated themselves more or less absolutely to the work, principally in the Ardèche, but also elsewhere.

I am in the north of Italy. I know enough of the language to explain the word of God, but I do not pretend to preach. In some weeks, I leave, God willing, for France. God has rather revived the brethren in Switzerland, and I believe that He does so in France too.

It is possible that I will come to America next summer. God knows.

I can no longer do journeys on foot, otherwise I work as usual, and I am better away from London than in this great city, but in his seventy-second year, one cannot think of doing what I did when younger.

Yours affectionately

Letter originally written in French, translated by Sosthenes, 2013
Click here for original – If you have any comments on the translation, feel free to let me know.

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