Why art thou cast down, my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise him, [who is] the health of my countenance, and my God.
Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; deliver me from the deceitful and unrighteous man.
2For thou art the God of my strength: why hast thou cast me off? why go I about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3Send out thy light and thy truth: *they* shall lead me, *they* shall bring me to thy holy mount, and unto thy habitations.
4Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto the God of the gladness of my joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.
5Why art thou cast down, my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise him, [who is] the health of my countenance, and my God.
Blest Lord, Thou speak’st! ‘Twas erst Thy voice
That led my heart to Thee;
That drew me to that better choice
Where grace has set me free.
John Nelson Darby
WHAT powerful, mighty Voice, so near,
Calls me from earth apart –
Reaches, with tones so still, so clear,
From th’unseen world, my heart?
‘Tis solemn, yet it draws with power
And sweetness yet unknown;
It speaks the language of an hour
When earth’s for ever gone.
It soothes, yet solemnizes all;
What yet of nature is
Lies silent, through the heavenly call;
No earthly voice like this!
‘Tis His. Yes, yes; no other sound
Could move my heart like this;
The voice of Him that earlier bound
Through grace that heart to His –
In other accents now, ’tis true,
Than once my spirit woke,
To life and peace, through which it grew
Under His gracious yoke.
Blest Lord, Thou speak’st! ‘Twas erst Thy voice
That led my heart to Thee;
That drew me to that better choice
Where grace has set me free.
Then would’st Thou that I should rejoice,
And walk by faith below;
Enough, that I had heard Thy voice,
And learnt Thy love’s deep woe –
Thy glory, Lord. This living waste
Thenceforth no rest could give;
My path was on with earnest haste,
Lord, in Thy rest to live.
Yes, then ’twas faith – Thy word; but now
Thyself my soul draw’st nigh,
My soul with nearer thoughts to bow
Of brighter worlds on high.
And oh! how all that eye can see
To others now belongs!
The eternal home’s so nigh to me –
My soul’s eternal songs.
For Thou art near; Thou call’st me now
In love I long have known,
While waiting on Thy will below,
Till Thou my hopes should’st crown.
And Thou would’st have me soon with Thee;
Thou, Lord, my portion art;
Thou hast revealed Thyself to me –
Thy nature to my heart.
My happiness, O Lord, with Thee
Is long laid up in store,
For that bless’d day when Thee I’d see,
And conflict all be o’er.
Yes, love divine – in Thee I know;
The Father’s glories soon
Shall burst upon my ravished view –
Thyself my eternal crown!
Thou mak’st me brighter hopes to prove,
Because Thou nearer art;
With secrets of eternal love
Thou fill’st my longing heart.
How shall I leave Thee, Lord? This joy
Is from Thyself; it is
My brightest hope without alloy,
My pure, eternal bliss.
With Thee, O Lord, I all things have –
Unclouded joy divine
In Thee, who first these “all things” gave
For ever to be mine.
Yet I will wait, in labour still
In Thy blest service here;
What Thou hast given me to fulfil –
Thy will – to me is dear.
“It is my meat to do the will of Him I serve; and I am glad to know it, because it is His – glad He has deigned to communicate it to me – glad to have it perfect as He gives it.” J.N.D.
I well can wait! Thou waitest yet
The word of that dread hour,
Which shall Thy foes for ever set
As footstool of Thy power.
Yet, Lord, were once Thy will fulfilled,
How better far with Thee,
With Thee, my joy, my strength, my shield,
In cloudless light to be.
O endless joy! how shall my heart
Thy riches all unfold,
Or tell the grace that gave me part
In bliss no tongue hath told?
The following verse is on JND’s gravestone in Bournemouth Cemetery – ed.
Lord, let me wait for Thee alone;
My life be only this –
To serve Thee here on earth, unknown;
Then share Thy heavenly bliss.
Lord, be it soon! Thou know’st our heart,
In this sad world, no rest
Can find nor wish but where Thou art –
That rest itself possessed!
Soon shall we see Thee as Thou art,
O hope for ever blessed!
Thou’lt call us, in our heavenly part –
The Father’s house – to rest.
O rest ineffable, divine,
The rest of God above,
Where Thou for ever shalt be mine;
My joy, eternal love!
His counsels, all, fulfilled in Thee;
His work of love complete;
And heavenly hosts shall rest, to see
Earth blest beneath Thy feet!
This poem forms the base of two hymns in the Little Flock Hymn Book
Walking in the Light of the Assembly,
Where does Islam come into Prophecy?
Darby’s Spiritual Songs
What a Price He Paid!
Who hath despised the day of small things
Adoss Newsletter No 9
June 2014
A Day of Small Things
By Σωσθένης Ὁἀδελφὸς – Sosthenes the Brother
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
Walking in the Light of the Assembly
I have sought to write, with God’s help, a short paper on a subject which still causes difficulty for many, despite all that has been opened up of assembly truth since John Nelson Darby and a few others broke bread in Dublin 186 years ago.
The children of Israel, when they had gone through Jordan took 12 stones from the Jordan and placed them on dry land. The next generation would ask, ‘What mean ye by these stones?’, they would be told, ‘The waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan’ (Jos. 4:6-7). It is like that now. There have been those who fought the Lord’s battles, taking issue with the establishment and ‘nationalist’ Christendom. They were opposed, but God sent an earthquake by Darby and others through the evangelical profession. Those that separated were blessed, numbers grew enormously throughout the world, and men like Moody and Spurgeon with large personal followings had considered joining. Even without those that would have followed these men, what started as a non-sectarian movement had already become as sect. it was not surprising that there were divisions – the ‘open’ division of 1848, the Glanton division of 1908, and more scattering since then. Things came to a head in 1970 when a man in New York declared ‘We are the church!’ How preposterous! Like Laodicea, the Lord had to spew such a line out of His mouth, leaving a few poor weak and scattered souls to humbly go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Heb. 13:13).
But each generation has to face things, like the children of Israel. Only those of us over 60 are old enough to remember what really happened in the 1960’s and 70’s. Satan has only a limited armour, and he attacks in similar ways year after year. But if we have not learned the lessons of history, dependently with God, we will become his prey. That is why I have written, I trust in God’s grace, Walking in the Light of the Assembly. Several spiritual and well taught people in England and the USA have read it and provided helpful comments, which I have incorporated. It is not ready to be printed yet. But I am emailing a PDF version of it to on the ADOSS mailing list, and to others besides. Please pass it on to others who are concerned as to the truth – and love the One who is True, and I look forward to receiving comments and corrections. You can also download it here.
May you be blessed as having withdrawn from iniquity, you follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Tim 2:22 Darby).
Where does Islam come into Prophecy?
I do not know the answer to that. God has told us to be intelligent as to the signs of the times (Matt. 16:3), but also, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.’ (Acts 1:7). As a good teacher, who was in the meeting I attend, used to say ‘The prophetic clock has stopped’.
John said, ‘Even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” (1 John 2:18). Doubtless Mohammed was one of these, and his legacy is still around. Even now a fanatical group, ISIS, is gaining momentum in Syria and Iraq seeking to establish a caliphate uniting the entire Muslim world and rule with strict Islamic code. Where will that lead?
We read of various satanic beings in Revelation – the Antichrist, the beast, the false prophet, the harlot, all murderous and all enemies of God’s people (of course we will not be there!). Is Islam’s activity foretold in Rev. 9, Abaddon /Apollyon (the destroyer) being one of the names of Allah? Will Rome make a pact with Islam, reconciling the Sunni and Shiite factions, having successfully united apostate Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christendom?
What are your thoughts?
Of course, let us not get too hung up with prophecy. It is important, but not to be studied academically or out of curiosity. Just so we can be those waiting for the Lord’s return – ‘The Spirit and the bride say, Come’ (Rev 22:17)
Darby’s Spiritual Songs
When I have not known what to put on ADOSS – or perhaps lacking the spiritual energy to go to the goldmine and find the next nugget to summarise, I open a little book Spiritual Songs, by JN Darby (Published by Kingston Bible Trust). It is a wonderful source of comfort and inspiration. So I will take one and put it on ADOSS. Recent postings have included,
If you pay a price for something, it is because you have placed a value on it – normally greater than the price. The servant in Matthew 18 owed 10,000 talents. A talent was worth 16 year’s pay, so 10,000 talents meant 160,000 year’s pay – 4000 lifetimes – or in modern money – £4.68 billion ($7.2 billion) – in short an enormous amount which no domestic servant could conceive of. The interest would have been over £200/$340 million a year! What’s more, the foolish servant thought he could repay his master given time. And our Lord has valued your soul and mine more than any financial amount.
What a pity that servant did not behave like his Master! He took his fellow servant by the throat and demanded repayment of 100 denarii, 100 day’s pay or about £12,000 ($20,400), a repayable sum given time. The wicked servant was sent to prison for ever – tormented alone in the lake of fire. A brother pointed out to me – the other servants told their master, they did not confront the man. There are matters we should take to the Lord and let Him sort it out, even tough it might try our patience.
And what about Esau? He could have had the birthright. And what did he value it at? – one meal! Hebrews tells us he was profane. He did not find repentance. God hated him.
May we all value our salvation, our birthright, our inheritance, and may we value our brother or sister and not demand from them when we have been forgiven so much.
We are already nearly half way through 2014.
Tis not far off-the hourWhen Christ will claim His own;We soon shall hear that voice of power;The Lord Himself shall come!
We ought to remember what we are in ourselves, when we talk about exercising discipline – it is an amazingly solemn thing. When I reflect, that I am a poor sinner, saved by mere mercy, standing only in Jesus Christ for acceptance, in myself vile, it is, evidently, an awful thing to take discipline into my own hands.
Excerpts from a Paper by J N Darby entitled ‘On Discipline’
John Nelson Darby
We ought to remember what we are in ourselves, when we talk about exercising discipline – it is an amazingly solemn thing. When I reflect, that I am a poor sinner, saved by mere mercy, standing only in Jesus Christ for acceptance, in myself vile, it is, evidently, an awful thing to take discipline into my own hands.
But the church may be forced to exercise discipline, as in the case of the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 5. I believe there is never a case of church discipline but to the shame of the whole body. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul says, “Ye have not mourned,” etc.: they all were identified with it. Like some sore on a man’s body, it tells of the disease of the body, of the constitutional condition. The assembly is never prepared, or in the place to exercise discipline, unless having first identified itself with the sin of the individual. If it does not do it in that way, it takes a judicial form, which will not be the ministration of the grace of Christ. Its priestly character in the present dispensation is one of grace.
All discipline until the last act is restorative. The act of putting outside, of excommunication, is not (properly speaking) discipline, but the saying that discipline is ineffective, and there is an end of it; the church says, “I can do no more.”
As to the nature of all this, the spirit in which it should be conducted, it is priestly; and the priests ate the sin-offering within the holy place, Lev. 10. I do not think any person or body of Christians can exercise discipline, unless as having the conscience clear, as having felt the power of the evil and sin before God, as if he had himself committed it. If that which is done is not done in the power of the Holy Ghost, it is nothing.
It is a terrible thing to hear sinners talking about judging another sinner, sinners judging sinners, but a blessed thing to see them exercised in conscience about sin come in among themselves. It must be in grace. I no more dare act, save in grace, than I could wish judgment to myself. “Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again,” Matt. 7:1, 2. If we go to exercise judgment, we shall get it.
