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THE

DIVINE HEADSHIP

AND

UNITY OF ISRAEL

SCRIPTURALLY VINDICATED.

Judai.

"Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of
the LORD is."-EPHESIANS V. 17.

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SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. STATIONERS' COURT;

DAVID BATTEN, CLAPHAM COMMON.

1843.

DIVINE

THE

HEADSHIP,

ETC. ETC.

In seeking to repay that debt of gratitude of which our spiritual privileges are the evidence, let us, with a single eye to the glory of the God of Israel, enquire what is his will concerning his people, whose regeneration is individually accomplished when they are enabled to manifest, by "the righteousness which is by faith," that they are the true children of Abraham, "the friend of God;" lest, in the neglect of "brotherly-kindness and charity," we should, as individuals, "have left undone those things which we ought to have done," and lest, by casting stumbling-blocks in the way of the blind, or in causing them to stray into the thorny labyrinth of assumption and "will worship," we, as a Society, "do those things which we ought not to have done."

It concerns us much to know a great Scripture truth, which we shall never learn from the theology of the times; viz., that the god of this world, or age, is at once the adversary of the Messiah, the deceiver of the nations, and the accuser of the brethren; and that in this threefold manifestation of enmity, the "enemy of all righteousness comes not to us in the revolting deformity of his essentially evil character and action, but under the specious title and office of "a messenger of light."

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Such is the testimony of Scripture; and as we are never so much in danger of being beguiled by those blinding and inebriating influences of which the god of this world has the possession and disposal, as when we are off our guard, we ought not to be ignorant of his devices, lest, instead of resisting, "steadfast in the faith," we are found contending against the Holy One of Israel, who is the immediate Head of his people, and who, as the evidence of their faith and allegiance, requires and enables them at all times, and under all circumstances, to testify to the nations, "The LORD our judge; the LORD our lawgiver; the LORD our king: He will save us."

No enterprise can prosper, nor prayer find acceptance, but as we act and ask in conformity with the Father's will; which the Son was sent to do and to teach.

Correct theories of the Divine nature, and voluntary atonement, and free grace of Him who was at once the "root and offspring of David," will avail us nothing, however strongly we may urge the "many wonderful works" which, in evidence of our zeal, we have done "in his name," if we have lacked that pure love which unites us to the Divine Head and his members. And hence it is, that in having failed to substantiate our relation to the Head by means of our practical kindness to his suffering members, we become identified with the workers of iniquity, to whom "the Just One" shall testify, "I never knew you."

In nothing has the deceiver of the nations more successfully carried on his disguised and covert contravention of the Divine will, than in suppressing the light of Scripture testimony; whether by sealing it in a dead language, limiting the knowledge of it to segments and deflections, or by compelling it to utter other than its plain truth, by disjointing and mangling it on the rack of accommodation. This ignorance of the truth of God, and this subjection to those errors which, under the title of "helps" and "means," have become its substitutes, has established that false estimate of "the times of the Gentiles," upon which so much "wood, hay, stubble," has been accumulated, and upon which that pure element which shall "try men's works of what sort they are," will act so unsparingly,

What are "the times of the Gentiles;" opened as they were by the absence of the Messiah, the suspension of his law, the banishment of his disloyal subjects; and closed as they shall be by the return of the King, the resumption of his authority, the reconstitution of the house of Jacob as a kingdom, and the resurrection-blessedness of the election of grace, which, as his "peculiar treasure," and as "kings and priests," shall share the glorious triumph of his reign ?

To us they are all-important, as a lease of privilege and occupancy, for the use or abuse of which we shall be called to render an account to our Judge, when he shall appear on the throne of his glory, in the city which shall be called “Jehovah is there." But in itself, this season of probation is a hiatus, a parenthesis, little accounted of, and frequently overlooked by the prophetic eye, which dwelt with delight on that glorious redemption from the dominion of sin, misery, death, and "him that hath the power of death"-which is beyond it, and which shall reward the travail of His soul, who went forth "sowing the seed" of his kingdom in tears, but who shall "return with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

What good purpose was to be realized to the nations during their season of privilege and grace ? Was it to "transform" the kingdoms of this world into that nominal profession of the name of Christ, which, in leaving their character essentially evil, alike insults his name and belies his doctrine? or was it to take out of all nations a people, by faith individually translated from the moral darkness of this world's ruler, and who, worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth, shall hereafter serve him in his heavenly temple, wearing white raiment, "the righteousness of saints," and bearing triumphal palms, the victory of faith over the world.

The invitation is to all, "Whosoever will, let him come;" but it is only available to those who are, through grace, made willing to comply with the terms of the invitation.

The relation which the Gentile is called to sustain and illustrate, is that of adoption, which implies transference from the interventional authority which has been substituted for that immediate headship and government with which they are by adoption to become identified. Faith is the means by

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