HIS little volume will usefully recall the many precious things uttered in the hearing of those who attended our June Conference this year, and we doubt not will find acceptance in that larger circle of Christian friends whom distance, sickness, or business engagements prevented from gathering with us at Mildmay. We send it forth in the spirit of prayer and expectation that our blessed Lord will use it for increase of holiness, for clearer manifestation of unity, and for more thorough and devoted service on the part of His redeemed and beloved people. What abundant room there is for more saintliness, more oneness, more consecration on the part of all of us who are separated unto Christ, and who are left in the world to exhibit a contrast to the world-principles of selfpleasing, division, and strife for the uppermost place. Has not the Blessed One said, "I am among you as he that serveth;" and, "the disciple is not above his Master"? Is He "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever"? And is not His longing desire "that they all may be one"? Or has He withdrawn for this ease-loving generation the "hard saying" of a former time, “If any man will come after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." "And whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple "? Nay, beloved friends and fellow-workers, have we not good reason to "forget the things that are behind" in our Christian experience as utterly unworthy of our high calling, to cease from "comparing ourselves among ourselves," and steadfastly to set our gaze on the One glorious example of purity, true-heartedness, and selfsurrender; and beyond His perfect life and atoning death to behold "all power given unto Him in heaven and on earth," that out of His fulness we may receive power to be His witnesses. The longing of those who sigh and who cry to God at this hour is for more power with the Word and in the lives of true Christians. We have a pure gospel; there is quite a multitude at home and abroad publishing the good news; but what a lack of the power which is unto salvation in the ordinary ministration of the Word. Let us search and try ourselves, and see wherein we may be hindering the outpouring of abundant blessing, and lay aside every weight and every besetting sin, that God, even our own God, may bless us. We reprint here the circular calling the Conference : Beloved Brethren in the Lord, -The pleasant duty of summoning you to our Annual Conference again devolves upon us; and while we feel the deep responsibility of thus inviting you, we are sure, from the tokens of past blessings, that it will not be in vain that we shall come together once more to wait upon the Lord our God. It does indeed seem, if we may judge by the numbers who attend, that the interest attaching to the Conference extends year by year; and we believe that each gathering has not been without very distinct profit to very many, if not all, of those who have assembled with us. The hand of our God has been upon us for good; we have felt that He has been in the midst; He has graciously kept us from everything that might have marred our realized unity in Christ, and we have gone away to our tents with gladness and renewed strength. And now that we ask you again to join us, it is well that we should be reminded of the supreme importance of so coming together as to obtain the fullest possible results for ourselves, for our absent brethren, and for the world, from conference in our Father's presence and with Himself. In order that this may be, let us strive to live so near to Him that when we do assemble with each other it may be as those to whom communion with an invisible God is not an effort, but an abiding condition, and as those who are thus prepared at once for further revelations of His will. Let us set our hearts upon this. Never was there a time when the Church of the living God needed all the life and power that she can get from Him more than the present. The call to service, to separation, to self-denial for Christ's sake, sounds louder than ever in our ears. And if our Mildmay Conferences are to be what they ought to be, seasons, not of mere passing enjoyment in hearing religious truth from men of God, and of Christian fellowship, but rather of reverent waiting at our Master's feet, of enlargement of heart, of fuller consecration to His service, we must come to them with spirits prepared in private, with longing expectations, and with subject wills. The time is too short, the conflict around us too severe, thè cry of perishing multitudes too piercing, our sworn allegiance to Christ too sacred, for us to devote the precious opportunity of our Conference days to anything but that resolute, concentrated pursuit of the knowledge of God which alone will be rewarded by Him, and without which our lives must be worse than useless. We hope that the following subjects which we suggest for consideration will, by the gracious teaching of the Holy Ghost, prove to be such as shall strengthen our faith, quicken our zeal, and stimulate our hope: GOD GLORIFIED IN THE HOLINESS OF HIS CHURCH. Our earnest desire, and doubtless that of all the Lord's people who attend the Conference, is, that there may be a practical outcome therefrom. If a higher standard of individual holiness be attained through the prayerful consideration of the subject selected for the first day's Conference, the result must be the more intimate union of the Church in heart and in purpose of life, which forms the subject for the second day, and leads up to that apportioned for the last day's Conference; for both holiness and unity are essential for service. The unholiness of the workers will make "the work of their hands" unclean, and divisions among the Lord's witnesses will mar their testimony. It has, we know, been suggested that our Conference should be devoted to the more immediate consideration of the Church's duty in regard to some of the deeply important social questions that press upon us on every side. And we do not for one moment underrate their importance. We feel, however, that the object of the morning and evening meetings, having from the first been the worship of our God and growth in grace, it would be inexpedient to change their character, especially as such questions could hardly be handled at gatherings of such magnitude without endangering that hallowed unity of spirit which has hitherto been so mercifully preserved among us. The smaller and less formal assemblies in the afternoon will, we believe, afford every opportunity for conferring on such subjects, while the engagements of the morning and evening will provide us with instruction from on high, and fit us for dealing rightly with them. Let us, above all things, come together in "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost." Then shall we prove our Conference of 1880 to be a time of "refreshing from the presence of the Lord," and of re-dedication to the service of Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us. We entreat you to unite with us in prayer that all our proceedings may be guided by the Lord the Spirit, and that the glory of God may be the one object of all who shall assemble to seek Him with us. We remain, beloved brethren, yours in Christ, Conference Hall, Mildmay Park, London, N., May, 1880. |