by

A. J. Gardiner (1884 - c. 1972)

READING AND MONTREAL, 1883.

120
CERTAIN difficulties arose in these two places almost simultaneously, that in the former place being connected with the teaching of Mr. C. E. Stuart, and in the latter place with the teaching of Mr. F. W. Grant. Though the teachings in question were not identical, they both had the result of setting aside, in the minds of those who received them, the distinctiveness and heavenly character of Christianity. Mr. Stuart’s teaching failed to recognise the complete termination judicially, in the cross of Christ, of the first man, and the truth that in Christ, God has introduced manhood of an entirely different and heavenly order, in which believers are given part, in the Spirit. “God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son,” 1 John 5:11; and again, “The first man out of the earth, made of dust; the second man, out of heaven. Such as he made of dust, such also those made of dust; and such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones,” 1 Cor. 15:47, 48.

Mr. Grant, on the other hand, while admitting that in Christianity there was increased light as compared with previous dispensations, taught that the saints in those dispensations had life in the Son, and he put forward views which lowered Christianity to the level of those dispensations.

The following letters by Mr. J. B. Stoney set out the truth that was really the issue in these matters.

There is really no difference between the nature of man and the old man. The word old nature I do not think occurs. The effort is to spare in some way the first man. Let us begin by insisting that “such as the heavenly one, such also are the heavenly ones,” and then it is easy to see that there is an entire change of race.

121
That is the truth to be contended for, and the truth that in every heterodoxy is undermined. There is a total change of race—“As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” Nothing but personal identity will remain of the first man. I shall know that I am a new man, but all the ideas and feelings of the old man will have passed away.

The idea with those who seek to spare the first man is, that if the evil nature were eliminated, that then the old man would be free of all that is objectionable and would be continued. Not so at all.

I am of the order of the great heavenly One—and hence the old order has terminated in judgment on the cross.

J.B.S.

The mass of Christians do not see that a Man has come from God, the Son of man which is in heaven. Many a Christian would be glad that his bad qualities were replaced with good ones; but that all must be crucified, as said to the young man in Mark 10, is too much for them.

J.B.S.

... Be assured you will find the snare of the day amongst us is to exalt the standing or status of the Old Testament saint in order to bring him so near to the New Testament saint, that the heavenly character of the latter may be ignored, and that thus the great difference between them—one earthly, the other heavenly—is effaced. And this Christendom has done effectually. What the church did at the earliest date when decline set in is the snare now to us to Whom the Lord has committed the recovered truth. No Old Testament saint will be of the heavenly city though he will be in it; and this is an immense

122
difference. The Old Testament saint could use anything on the earth for God’s service; we are precluded from using anything of man for God. We are confined absolutely and entirely to the one Man in heaven for motive, for joy, for life, for dictation, for direction in every detail of daily life.

J.B.S.

I had a very happy day at — through the Lord’s mercy. I said a little in the morning on the difference between Psalm 73 and 2 Corinthians 3:18. In the former the saint’s judgment was changed, while in the latter the saint himself is transformed. The word for transformed is used only four times in the New Testament and twice it is translated “transfigured.” This is very interesting.

In the evening I spoke from Acts 9. The very beginning of the gospel is, the light comes out from heaven and the seal of the blessing is the Holy Ghost who had come down from heaven. Does not that make the gospel heavenly, though some say it is not. I fear that there is a tendency abroad to exaggerate the standing and state of the Old Testament saints in order to make little difference between the church and them, and thus the heavenly exclusiveness is weakened or lost. The aim of the enemy from a very early date was to draw the saints from their heavenly calling. (See the Hebrews.) Once heaven as a present portion is surrendered, all the great privileges and position of the church are frittered away. The Old Testament saints were wrought on by God, and they may put us to shame by their fidelity and devotedness and cleaving to God, but if we descend to them we lose sight of our own calling. It is quite true “the heir” should embrace all that “the infant” has, but not this only, but a great deal more!

J.B.S.

*     *     * 

F.E. Raven

Table of Contents