Tag: jn darby

Summaries and Light Editing

Here are a few note to bear in mind wen reading A Day of Small Things.

Some articles are shown in full – this applies to letters, poems and some articles, especially those not by J N Darby. If no indication is shown then you may assume that the article is reproduced in full and unedited.

Here are  a few note to bear in mind wen reading A Day of Small Things.

Some articles are shown in full – this applies to letters, poems and some articles, especially those not by J N Darby.  If no indication is shown then you may assume that the article is reproduced in full and unedited.

Light Editing

These articles have been subject to very minor editing.  Darby’s writings are often difficult to follow, especially for a 21st century reader.  There is archaic language, construction and spelling; words have been changed.  There are some very long sentences; these have been broken up, sometimes with changed sequence to make it easier for the modern reader.  Often he was writing for the benefit of learned academics or clerics, so additional references are given to ensure the item is intelligible.  It is still safe, in the author’s opinion, to quote from this, though you would be well advised to check with the original, generally on the Stem Publishing website.  We have kept the same titles and headings.

Summaries – Darby Simplified

Here, we have substantially rewritten articles.  With God’s help we trust we have preserved the meaning (comments always welcome!), and not left out anything significant, and kept to the same dignified style as the original.  However the length of the article will have been reduced by 60-70%, and the language simplified.  We try to keep to a consistent person and tense; Darby changes frequently from ‘we’ to ‘you’ and from past to present.  Sentences which are well written and clear may be reproduced unchanged.

The reader should use the utmost care in quoting from these summaries.  I have no objection to your doing so, but please make it clear that you are quoting from an ADOSS summary.  NEVER make it look as if you are quoting from the original.

It is for that reason that I change the tittle of a summary.  For example JND’s ‘The Faith once delivered to the Saints’ is rendered ‘Knowing where we are, and what God wants us to do, in the Confused State of Christendom’.

 

May you be blessed in reading ADOSS.  Whatever happens, keep near the Lord

Sosthenes

May 2014

 

 

A Brief Outline of the Books of the Bible – Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs

We have had subsequent to the history, the moral development of the heart of man, and of the Spirit of God working in various ways in his heart. Especially in Ecclesiastes, the heart of man makes itself a centre, and tries to feed itself, In Canticles, the heart is getting out of itself into the heart of Christ.

lay-preachingPROVERBS.

Here is the wisdom of God showing its path to man, in contrast with the corruption and violence in man.  The first eight chapters give us the principle, showing Christ as wisdom.   The remainder of Proverbs enters into details.   It is addressed to man in a remarkable way.   A man of the world escapes by knowing the crookedness of the world: this book enables a man to escape without knowing it – wise in that which is good, simple concerning evil.

ECCLESIASTES

Here is the result of the pursuit of happiness under the sun.   Man’s wisdom, as man, is God’s law.

CANTICLES or SONG OF SONGS

The Song gives us the relationship, and the affections of the heart of the spouse, with Christ.  This special form of the relationship, is to be realised properly in Israel, though we may apply this book, abstractedly, to the church and to the individual.   (What Canticles treats of is not relationship, but desires, faith, getting the joy of the relationship with occasional glimpses, but not an established known relationship.  The place of the church, though the marriage is not come, is that of being in the relationship.  Israel will not have this.)

There is a kind of progress observable. (1) “My beloved is mine” – this is the lowest point. (2) “I am my beloved’s” – this is the consciousness of belonging to Him. (3) “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is towards me.”

_______

We have had subsequent to the history, the moral development of the heart of man, and of the Spirit of God working in various ways in his heart.  Especially in Ecclesiastes, the heart of man makes itself a centre, and tries to feed itself,  In Canticles, the heart is getting out of itself into the heart of Christ.

 

 

 

Slightly edited by Sosthenes, May 2014

A Brief Outline of the Books of the Bible – Samuel, Kings, Chronicles

lay-preaching1 SAMUEL

The judicial priesthood connection is here broken. Both judge and priest go in Eli. The ark is taken – a total breach. Power is lost.   Then God comes in, in His own sovereign way, by a prophet, as He had earlier when He brought them out of Egypt.  (Everything on the ground of man’s responsibility was gone; but God’s sending a prophet was sovereign mercy.)  Before He brings in strength (the king), He brings in prophecy – note this.  Before Christ returns in power, it is the testimony of the Spirit and word, by which a connection is maintained between God and His people.  From Eli to David on the throne the principle is faith and power, not succession.

But flesh requires governmental order,* and it gets what it wants.  However, it breaks down under the power of the enemy.  Even believers who cling to the flesh, fall with it (Jonathan).   If governmental order is established without Christ, they cannot accept Christ’s coming to set it aside.  The one in whom hope is (David) must be content to be as a partridge on the mountains.

Saul was raised up to put down the Philistines and Jonathan subdued them.  Saul did not, and was destroyed by them.  Jonathan was a believer associated with the outward order.  The place of faith was with David.  It is the place of the power of faith without the king.

{*It is quite true that there was a want through the misrule of Samuel’s sons.  Spiritual energy had failed.  The church can only stand in power: when it turned to the principle of succession, all was lost.}

2 SAMUEL

Saul falls on the mountains of Gilboa.   Then we get the royalty of David, in active power, not in the reign of peace.  There was the promise that God would  maintain David’s house, however they conducted themselves.  God would chasten them if disobedient, but not take His mercy from them.  Then we get David’s personal failure when he is king.

There is another element – the ark and the temple come in question.  The relationship with God is re-established first by faith, not according to order, but by spiritual power according to grace.  The ark was on Mount Zion, and there they were singing, “His mercy endureth for ever”.   At Gibeon there was the high place, and Solomon went there.  The tabernacle was there, but not the ark.  Solomon is not seen at Mount Zion till his return from Gibeon, after God answered him. Consequent on God’s interfering in deliverance and redemption, the place of ordered worship is set up, connected with earth, at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.  It was after judgment: people had been slain, and sacrifice made.   God loves Jerusalem; He stays His hand in judgment, and shows by prophecy the path of reconciliation by sacrifice.

1 AND 2 KINGS.

Here we have the reign of Solomon, the figure of the great Son of David.  We have the establishment of Israel in peace, and the building of the temple.  This fails in Rehoboam.   The book of Kings then gives us the history of Israel, not Judah, but with sufficient notices of Judah to carry on the history.  You get the intervention of God  in mercy, by prophets in Elijah and Elisha.   In the midst of Israel,  Elijah was a testimony to Israel, who had left the temple, on the ground of responsibility; Elisha was a testimony in resurrection-power.

First and Second Kings continue the history in Judah till the captivity, and then Lo-ammi (not my people) was written on the nation.   There are, of course, many details and various characters.   Hezekiah had faith, Josiah showed obedience, Jehoshaphat had piety, but through association with the world, there never was success.

1 AND 2 CHRONICLES

Chronicles gives us the history of the family of David – ending with the Babylonish captivity.

1 Chronicles is David himself.  At the close, David has the pattern of everything by the Spirit, and leaves it to Solomon to execute.

2 Chronicles is David’s posterity.

Chronicles is more connected with the establishment of the kingdom on earth; Kings is more figurative of what is heavenly.  In the temple in Chronicles there is a veil (2 Chron. 3:14), in Kings there is not.   The veil will not be rent for Israel in the millennium.

Lightly edited by Sosthenes, May 2014

A Brief Outline of the Books of the Bible – Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

LEVITICUS

Leviticus gives us God in the tabernacle, as in the midst of His people, ordering all things that suit their relationship to Him.  The feasts represent Him as in the midst of the people, a circle round Himself.

NUMBERS

Numbers treats the journey through the wilderness, with insight into the inheritance (for us heavenly).  It present a full prospect of all God’s ways in bringing them in, and of Christ Himself as the One who is to reign.   Reference is made in this last remark to Pisgah, and to Balaam’s prophecy.

DEUTERONOMY

Deuteronomy provides a recapitulation of all God’s ways and dealings with Israel, as motives to insist on obedience, and to put the people on moral grounds in direct relationship with Himself.   The three great feasts (chap. 16) have this character.   The testing character of the law is stated, and at the same time the purpose of God in blessing, spite of failure under the law, is revealed; closing with the prophetic blessing of Israel, in respect to their then present condition.

Lightly edited by Sosthenes, May 2014

J N Darby – Unfoldings – O Lord, Thy Glory we Behold

O LORD, Thy glory we behold,
Though not with mortal eyes;
That glory, on the Father’s throne,
No human sight descries.

C.M.

O LORD, Thy glory we behold,
Though not with mortal eyes;
That glory, on the Father’s throne,
No human sight descries.

But though the world can see no more
Him it cast out with scorn,
The eye of fresh-born faith can soar
Above – where He is gone.

‘Tis not for human eye to see
Nor human ear to hear,
Nor heart conceive what it may be,
Or bring the prospect near;

But God in love has freely given
His Spirit, who reveals
All He’s prepared for those, in heaven,
Whom here on earth He seals.

‘Tis thence, now Christ is gone on high,
Redemption’s work complete,
The Spirit brings His glory nigh
To those who for Him wait.

Blest gift! As sons we look above
And see the Saviour there;
And, fruit of God’s now well-known love,
We shall His glory share.

God has been glorified in Man;
Man sits at God’s right hand –
Obedient in the race He ran,
Can now all power command.

In lowliness on earth, as Son,
The Father He made known;
And now in heaven, His work all done,
He sits upon His throne.

And we our great Fore-runner see
In His own glory there;
Yet not ashamed – with such as we,
As First-born, all to share.

For we as sons through grace are owned,
And “Abba, Father,” cry;
Heirs too, so rich did grace abound,
Joint-heirs with Him on high.

The Father’s love, the source of all,
Sweeter than all it gives,
Shines on us now without recall,
And lasts while Jesus lives.

The new creation’s stainless joy
Gleams through the present gloom,
That world of bliss without alloy,
The saint’s eternal home!

J N Darby, 1881

Edited version in Little Flock Hymn Book  (1962, 1973) and in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs 1978 – No 81

The Irrationalism of Infidelity –Objections Dependent on “Science”

There is no inconsistency. As regards man, the science of physiology can only examine man as he is — in a state of mortality. This is not, according to scripture how God created him. To suppose that God could not have sustained man in an immortal condition, is to put limitations on God, who cannot be limited. We are taught that following the fall, man became a dying creature, subject to ‘wear and tear’

Although JND used the word ‘science’, this objection surrounds more the anthropological background to beliefs worldwide.

It is not related to technological developments about which JND could not have known. These are however irrelevant to this discussion. I do not believe anything of the bible has been disproved by the discoveries of the past 150 years.

Objection – The biblical account is inconsistent with modern knowledge.

The_Fall_of_Man-1616-Hendrik_GoltziusAnswer. There is no inconsistency. As regards man, the science of physiology can only examine man as he is — in a state of mortality. This is not, according to scripture how God created him. To suppose that God could not have sustained man in an immortal condition, is to put limitations on God, who cannot be limited. We are taught that following the fall, man became a dying creature, subject to ‘wear and tear’.

If we look into ancient texts we find various references consistent with the account in Genesis. For example Plato wrote, ‘They lived naked in a state of happiness, and had an abundance of fruits, which were produced without the labour of agriculture, and men and beasts could then converse together. But these things we must pass over, until there appear some one to interpret them to us.’ [I cannot locate Source – maybe the Republic]. Fragments of truth, amidst the mass of superstition, exist in Egyptian, Greek, Mexican and Hindu fables. However, none of the written accounts are older than about 700BC [National Geographic refers to Mycenaean writing around 1450BC, the time of the exodus, but that makes no difference].

The millions of years of Hindu chronology, or the more moderate thousands of Chinese dynasties, have disappeared before increased information. Indeed, we have some Chinese dynasties and some dark Hindu traditions, which tend to confirm the early Mosaic accounts.

God, however, has given us a concise, simple account of immense moral import, infinitely elevated above the whole range of the heathen fables which pervert its elements, placing the supreme God — man —  good — evil —  responsibility — grace —  law — promise —  the creatures — marriage, all in their place. The Mosaic account brings out the innocence at creation, the knowledge of good and evil, conscience, judgment, the closing of the way to the tree of life, and the promise in the woman’s seed.

In so many fables there is the conflict between good and evil, with good prevailing. However in scripture, the drama was a reality; all involving one man and his failing companion. Yet from her who failed recovery was to spring; grace was to be brought out and magnified.

Another thing is evident, that Mesopotamia, and the country north of it, is the area from which the world was peopled.   Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, all are grouped round it. Indeed the Phoenicians even went to Ireland. [Skeptics might argue nowadays that early man came from Africa, but this is not the subject here].

No creature can subsist per se, that is, independently of God.

J N Darby – The Father’s Love – Blest Father, infinite in grace,

BLEST FATHER, infinite in grace,
Source of eternal joy;
Thou lead’st our hearts to that blest place
Where rest’s without alloy.

Hymn by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) 


C.M.

BLEST FATHER, infinite in grace,
Source of eternal joy;
Thou lead’st our hearts to that blest place
Where rest’s without alloy.

There will Thy love find perfect rest,
Where all around is bliss;
Where, all in Thee supremely blest,
Thy praise their service is!

Eternal love their portion is,
Where love has found its rest;
And, filled with Thee, the constant mind
Eternally is blest.

There Christ, the centre of the throng,
Shall in His glory shine;
But not an eye those hosts among
But sees that glory Thine.

Thy counsels too in all Thine own,
Fulfilled by power divine,
Spread wide the glory of Thy throne,
Where all in glory shine.

Yet deeper, if a calmer, joy
The Father’s love shall raise,
And every heart find sweet employ
In His eternal praise!

Nor is its sweetness now unknown –
Well proved in what it’s done;
Our Father’s love with joy we own,
Revealed in Christ the Son!

 J N Darby 1879

In Hymns for the Little Flock 1962 and 1973 No 178 and in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs 1978 – No 406

J N Darby – The Hope of Day – And is it so, I shall be like Thy Son,

AND is it so, I shall be like Thy Son,
Is this the grace which He for me has won?
Father of glory! Thought beyond all thought,
In glory to His own blest likeness brought!
AND is it so, we shall be like Thy Son,

By John Nelson Darby (1800-1882)


10.10.10.10

AND is it so, I shall be like Thy Son,
Is this the grace which He for me has won?
Father of glory! Thought beyond all thought,
In glory to His own blest likeness brought!

O Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee?
Fruit of Thy work! With Thee, too, there to see
Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll,
Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul.

Yet it must be! Thy love had not its rest
Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest –
That love that gives not as the world, but shares
All it possesses with its loved co-heirs!

Nor I alone; Thy loved ones all, complete,
In glory around Thee with joy shall meet;
All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord!
Object supreme of all, by all adored!

And yet it must be so! A perfect state,
To meet Christ’s perfect love – what we await;
The Spirit’s hopes, desires, in us inwrought,
Our present joy – with living blessings fraught.

The heart is satisfied, can ask no more;
All thought of self is now for ever o’er;
Christ, its unmingled Object, fills the heart
In blest adoring love – its endless part.

Father of mercies, in Thy presence bright
All this shall be unfolded in the light;
Thy children, all, with joy Thy counsels know
Fulfilled; patient in hope while here below.

[1872]

Edited version in Hymns for the Little Flock 1962 and 1973 and in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs 1978 – No 247

AND is it so, we shall be like Thy Son,

J N Darby – Dans ce Désert aride, et sans Chemin tracé,

Dans ce désert aride
Et sans chemin tracé,
Mon modèle et mon guide,
Mon Sauveur a passé.
Par lui je viens au Père ;
Il est tout mon bonheur ;
Aussi rien sur la terre
N’a d’attrait pour mon cœur.

oasisCantique française écrite par M John Nelson Darby (1800-81)
Version anglaise cliquez ici

Dans ce désert aride
Et sans chemin tracé,
Mon modèle et mon guide,
Mon Sauveur a passé.
Par lui je viens au Père ;
Il est tout mon bonheur ;
Aussi rien sur la terre
N’a d’attrait pour mon cœur.

Sur lui ma foi repose.
Puis-je le suivre en vain,
Ou perdre quelque chose,
Quand lui-même est mon gain ?
Si les biens de la vie
Prétendent m’arrêter,
Sa puissance infinie
Me les fait rejeter.

Heureux, l’âme affranchie,
Avançant vers le ciel,
Déjà je m’associe
Au cantique éternel.
Douleurs, fatigue ou peine,
N’ébranlent point ma foi.
L’épreuve est toute pleine
De fruits bénis pour moi.

Dans ce trajet d’une heure
Où je suis engagé,
Si je gémis et pleure,
Suis-je découragé ?
Non, ta grâce parfaite
Est mon constant recours ;
Ton bâton, ta houlette,
Me consolent toujours.

Ô Jésus, pain de vie
Que je goûte ici-bas,
Ta vertu fortifie
Mon âme à chaque pas.
Pour t’être enfin semblable,
Bientôt je te verrai
Dans ta gloire ineffable,
Et je t’adorerai !

Infallibility of Scripture

God alone is infallible; for “infallible” means one who cannot fail. Truth is not the same as infallibility; truth is the opposite to error, not to fallibility.

lay-preachingObjection:  You cannot say that anything is infallible.

Answer:  God alone is infallible; for “infallible” means one who cannot fail. Truth is not the same as infallibility; truth is the opposite to error, not to fallibility.

Scripture comes from God; it presents the truth; it is infallible. But there is no need to defend it to the infidel who rejects it. However, There is a difference between infallibility and perfect truth. If I question the infallibility of scripture, I am making a statement about the book. However when I reject perfect truth, I avoid facing what affects my conscience.

In strict logic, only one who is incapable of erring, is infallible in what he says,

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