Knowing something of the activity and devices of the evil One, who, as the god of this

age, blinds the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the good news of the

glory of Christ should shine unto them (II Cor. 4: 4), we are not surprised at what

followed after such a clear-cut testimony to the riches of this heavenly Secret. He came

in as the divider of the brethren, split the movement, and thereby prevented any united

testimony to the highest and most favoured of all callings of the redeemed.

We are sometimes asked the question "If what you teach is truth, why is it not

generally known amongst Christians?". We hope our short survey of the early centuries

and afterwards has made this quite clear. The answer is perfectly simple; it was largely

lost before the one channel through whom it was made known, died, namely the Apostle

Paul, and it has never been recovered in anything like its fullness till comparatively

recently, though doubtless individuals responded to it from time to time, but of this we

have no record. Even now we do not profess to have the last word on it, but enough of its

glories and spiritual riches are seen to make us feel humbled and utterly thankful, and at

the same time to feel the responsibility to make it known to others. The great Apostle's

aim was to "enlighten all" as to what is this dispensation of the Secret (Mystery R.V.

Eph. 3: 9), and Col. 1: 27 informs us in addition that God wishes to make it known, with

its riches of glory relating to Christ among us Gentiles, who once were outcasts, aliens

from Israel's commonwealth and strangers from the covenants of promise, now so

exalted in Christ Jesus, that God sees us as seated together in Him in the heavenly places

where He is enthroned in the glory. Who feels that this is a challenge and wants to

explore and apprehend something of this spiritual wealth? A hundred years ago, C.H.M.

lamented that only few responded to such teaching, and those who held to it faithfully

and sought to make it known would be despised and deserted. He was to a great extent

right in his forecast. What amazes us is that so many of God's people are content with

so little, when all these riches are waiting in His Word of Truth to be explored and

appropriated by faith. History informs us that generally speaking, it has always been so.

In O.T. days only two out of the thousands of God's earthly people, namely Caleb and

Joshua, were ready to believe all that God had revealed of the riches of Canaan and were

willing to go up, explore, and possess the promised land. The rest not only refused to

believe their testimony, but were prepared to stone and murder them.

What of us who profess to have had the necessary enlightenment of the Holy Spirit

regarding this heavenly and holy calling?  We need to be delivered from any

complacency and any tendency to be secret disciples, which is largely due to the fear of

man that bringeth a snare. We need to manifest the same missionary spirit to testify to

this truth as the Apostle Paul did in his day. We need believers, specially the young, who

have been given a glimpse of this heavenly `promised land', and who are prepared to

fully dedicate themselves to the Lord, the gospel and to this `good deposit' of truth. They

must be ready to take time and effort to get grounded in it;  to be alert to every

opportunity for witness; to have wisdom and patience in presenting it to others and to

back it up behind the scenes with persistent labouring in prayer and intercession for all,

such as Epaphras did (Col. 1: 24-29; 4: 12).  Only in this way can we discharge our

responsibilities to the Lord Who has showered upon us such riches of grace and glory.