testimony ... .  We may range through the inspired pages of the law and

the prophets, from one end to the other, and find no solution of "the

great Mystery" of the Church ... Peter received the keys of the

kingdom, and he used those keys, first to open the kingdom to the Jew,

and then to the Gentile.  But Peter never received a commission to

unfold the mystery of the church'. (`Life and Times of Elijah the

How strange to find C.H.M. and C.H.W. saying the same things, yet how

strange to note the way in which `The Brethren' have honoured the one, and

repudiated the other!

In 1870 Richard Holden wrote a work entitled:

`The Mystery, The Special Mission of the Apostle Paul, The Key to the

Present Dispensation'.

Here is a brief quotation from this very precious testimony.

`To make all see what is the dispensation, or in other words, to be the

divinely -appointed instructor in the character and order of the

present time, as Moses was in the dispensation of "law", is that

special feature in the commission of Paul in which it was distinct from

that of the other apostles ... If then it shall appear, that, far from

seeing "what is the dispensation of the Mystery" the mass of Christians

have entirely missed it, and, as the natural consequence have almost

completely misunderstood Christianity, importing into it the things

proper to another dispensation, and so confounding Judaism and

Christianity in an inexpressible jumble; surely it is a matter for deep

humiliation before God, and for earnest, prayerful effort to retrieve

with God's help, this important and neglected teaching'.

It seems almost unbelievable that a movement that could produce such a

testimony, could nevertheless, perpetuate that `inexpressible jumble' namely

of confusing the New Covenant or Testament, made only `with the house of

Israel and with the house of Judah' (Jer. 31:31), and make it the very centre

of that worship and assembly, thereby `confounding Judaism' with the truth of

the Church of the Mystery, the present dispensation and calling, in which no

covenant new or old finds a place, but a choice and a promise made `before

the foundation of the world'.

The Lord, however, Who knows the hearts of all men, will not allow any

of His servants an exclusive claim in knowledge, lest pride and boasting

spoil the testimony.  We gratefully acknowledge the pioneer work done by

others before us, who in their turn were quickened and directed by other

witnesses.  In the end, we all shall appear in a twofold capacity, viz.,

sowers and reapers -- sowers of seed garnered from the harvest prepared

before by others.

This matter, however, is scarcely a point in the criticism, although in

a part, which we do not quote, there is the thought that the exposition of

the Scriptures along the lines of this Analysis is somewhat of a presumption,

seeing that for nineteen centuries the church as a whole has taught on other

lines!  There is, however, but one test for all truth -- not its antiquity,

nor its popularity, but whether it is in harmony with all that God has

written.  And this we claim for dispensational truth.  We can well imagine

that `B' will interject here: `But surely you will give me credit for