Fourthly, the unity of the body of Christ, as gathered by the presence of the Holy Ghost in this present time of the Church on earth was undermined and subverted too.
Fifthly, the Deification of the saints, that is “Omniscient power of superintendance, “Omnipotent power necessary to such execution.” And, referring to Ezekiel’s vision but as a description of the power of the cherubim who symbolize the redeemed, “no where absent but everywhere present in the perfectness of undivided action,” and they “will apply to the earth, the[1] wisdom of the elders, and the throne.”
And as a sixth point, the constant extenuation of the evil of Popery. And the decided absence of Christ from the teaching while the saints were exalted “almost into co-equality with God.”[2]
I may add as a seventh the exaltation and beauty of a personal Antichrist in a way quite contrary to Scripture, so as to alarm and shake the minds of the saints. As to principles and practice, I do not go over again the statements made in the preceding pages; statements more than confirmed by incidents arising from day to day which it is impossible to reduce to writing.
I have now sufficiently given the history of what has passed, as far as I have been concerned in it. Others must give what has passed behind the scenes. As I have
- ↑ Mr. N. has since taught that the saints will have essential power. He states in the “Thoughts” that man will be blest in himself, and the source of blessing to others, p. 56.
- ↑ These are Mr. N.’s own words. This absence of Christ in the teaching, was a very principal thing which drove the poor brethren out, they felt the effect, though knowing little of the cause, and felt justly. The way works were pressed, and said to be offered by us to God because done in our new nature: statements, some of which are already mentioned, as to the Lord Jesus Himself, and the unsettling the mind as to truths relating to Him, would have made it impossible for me to have wished any one I cared for to attend the ministry—as a mere question of ministry, it would have been sufficient to have driven me away. I add this while printing, for the more I have considered this point, the more I am satisfied of its importance and of its application to numberless statements made.
