John M'Kenzie, the first Editor of the Gospel Standard, had written about the danger of "resting short". Among other things he spoke of a sinner resting in his hungerings and thirstings after Christ, and spoke of this as "a refuge of lies." This distressed some of his readers and one, G. Hunt of Bath, asked the question how this could be seeing the Lord Jesus has pronounced such to be blessed.

This is not an historical question, but an important point today. The following is M'Kenzie's reply:

I suppose I must say something by way of reply to G. Hunt's remarks on the refuge of lies; though I believe I should not have taken any notice at all of them if I did not think it might turn out to the honour and glory of God, and the further illustration of the living truth, and in some degree to the satisfaction of the truly simple, really perplexed and earnest and honest seekers after truth; for defenses, replies and attacks in general spring from pride, self-conceit, fleshly manliness, carnal fear of being overcome, and the like.

Mr. H. says in his remarks, "If the Lord of life and glory affirms them blessed who 'hunger and thirst after righteousness,' how is it that we find J.M'K., of Preston, affirming that 'hungering and thirsting after righteousness' is a refuge of lies? What! Hungering and thirsting after righteousness a refuge of lies? 'tossed with tempests and comforted'; 'seeking water, and finding none, plagued with sin and Satan's temptations a refuge of lies?" Well indeed! What insufferable and unpardonable impudence in J.M'K. of Preston thus so abruptly to excite Mr. H's surprise, and so unwarrantably to disturb and unhinge his ancient and customary ideas of "hungering and thirsting"! Who but he dares make such a wanton attack on the usual way of speaking of negative evidences? Mr. H. seems so amazed, that the idea might have just dropped down from the moon; or he might have been stung with gadflies, he is so startled. But let him not be so surprised; perhaps it will not be so "opposed to truth", and so impossible as he imagines for "hungering and thirsting after righteousness" to be made a refuge of lies, and yet the subjects of divine "hungering and thirsting after righteousness" be blessed characters, as our Lord affirms.

Remember, I never said they who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" were not blessed characters; no, I do believe them blessed, inasmuch as they are blessed with an appetite for divine things, and the blessed promise of being "filled" is made to them. I have good reason to believe them blessed, for this was the very first gospel passage that was revealed to my soul with any good degree of hope, comfort and encouragement four years ago. Neither did I say "hungering and thirsting" were not true evidences of divine life in living souls. On the contrary, I said, "The Word of God has spoken of such feelings as being the feelings of the living children of God." Neither did I say these evidences, as evidences, were in themselves a refuge of lies; but I called my resting in a conclusion which I drew from these evidences, when pressed with the necessity of experiencing the opposite evidences, a refuge of lies, "I would take refuge in knowing I was the subject of doubts and fears, despondency, etc.; and concluded (that is, from doubts and fears) I must be a child of God, and would then rest and comfort myself from this inference as much as I could; but time after time I was roused from this refuge of lies." Thus I substituted my negative evidences for affirmative ones, and rested in them when I felt I came short of affirmative ones. And if this were not a false refuge with a witness, I do not know where we should find one.

The fact is, it is just the letter-faith way of getting pardon, peace and the spirit of adoption, and the way thousands have it. And I do still say, whoever is attempting to satisfy his hungering and thirsting soul after righteousness with a sense of his hungering and thirsting; or attempting to rest and take shelter in these evidences, so as to be the means of keeping them back from pressing forward for the spirit of adoption (Gal. 4.5), for the crowning of the soul with the victory of Jesus (Phil. 3. 14), and for the holy anointing and sealing of God the Holy Ghost (1 John 2. 27), he is most assuredly making them a refuge of lies; and any who attentively read the piece may see this is my meaning. But some have got no eyes to see with, others either will not or do not want to see, and the pride of others will not let them acknowledge what they do see.

What Mr. H., therefore, calls "so opposed to truth", or in other words, lies, I call sound truth and safe experience. But I will tell Mr. Hunt and those of his mind how it is that I affirm these evidences to be a refuge of lies.

Because negative evidences are not a refuge at all, nor intended to be, especially in the sense I made them.

Because I believe many are making them a refuge in the same way.

Because such sheltering is calculated to keep the soul dwarfish, ricketed and deficient in the growth of divine things. It is also dishonouring to the rich and precious experience which the gospel produces in the soul, and to the sealing, satisfying, and peace-giving power of the Holy Comforter.

"Hungering and thirsting after righteousness," "tossed with tempests, and not comforted," "doubts and fears," etc., I firmly believe to be genuine evidences of divine life, when produced by the Spirit of God, and I hope I shall never be found misplacing or miscalling them; but I equally hope I shall never be found making them what they are not nor were intended to be.

Evidencesare not refuges, and whoever is resting in them as such are deceived, and will find out the delusion sooner or later. The Scriptures always represent the ALMIGHTY AND ETERNAL GOD ALONE as the ONLY REFUGE OF His people. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33. 27). "God is our refuge and strength" (Psa. 46. l). "God is known in her palaces for a refuge" (Psa. 48. 3). "My refuge is in God" (Psa. 62. 7). "My God is the rock of my refuge" (Psa. 94. 22). "God is my high tower and refuge" (2 Sam. 22. 3). (See also Psa. 9. 9; 14. 6; 57.1; 59. 16; Isa. 25. 4; Jer. 16. 19, etc.; Heb. 6. 18.) The Lord alone, then, is the only true refuge of His people; but never do I read of negative evidences being a refuge, especially when hunted with the necessity of having peace and pardon revealed to the soul. I say, then, "hungering and thirsting after righteousness, doubting and fearing," etc. in quickened souls, are true evidences of divine life, but not true refuges for a soul longing for divine life to run to.

Arefuge is a place of shelter and safety from the pursuing enemy or approaching danger, evidences are way marks or guideposts on the true road to the place of refuge. But if any one had seen a poor wretch fleeing to the city of refuge for his life before the avenger of blood, would it not have been an act of cruelty and deception to have persuaded him to take refuge behind the way marks instead of prompting him on to the city of refuge? The true road from Manchester to London is through Derby and Leicester, but though these are on the true road to London, yet neither of these towns is London; and if Mr. H. was to meet a wayfaring man passing through either of these towns for London, would he not be the man's enemy if he decoyed him to loiter and take up his residence there, by telling him he was on the true road to London, and therefore to content himself, and stay there? So it is in experience. "Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, doubts and fears," etc., are true evidences that the person is in the true path of true Christian experience, and on the true road for the city of refuge, peace, fullness and satisfaction, but who will say that these evidences themselves are peace and satisfaction?

Running is the way to obtain the crown, but running is not being crowned (Phil. 3. 13, 14); it is through wrestling we obtain the blessing, but wrestling is not the blessing; out of blindness we receive sight, but blindness is not seeing; by lameness we come at walking and leaping, but lameness is not leaping; through deafness we obtain the hearing ear, but deafness is not hearing; by a stammering tongue we learn to speak plainly, but stuttering is not plain speech; out of sorrow we suck joy, but sorrow is not joy; through despair we come at hope, but despair is not hope. The one of these necessarily precedes and makes way for the other, but the one never can be a substitute for the other.

If Mr. H. were fainting with thirst and dying with hunger, and someone were to say to him, "Come, Mr. H., be of good cheer; don't sink and faint; your hungering and thirsting is a true evidence of life; you are therefore blessed" would this meet Mr. H.'s urgent case, and satisfy his craving appetite, and save his sinking body? I think not. He would not be one whit the better; his gnawing stomach and parched throat would carp and crave for satisfaction still. It would be like saying, "Be ye warmed and filled." And however you may attempt to satisfy a hungering and thirsting, doubting and fearing soul with these feelings as evidences of divine life, you never can; you may pacify and lull it asleep for a little, but it will awake dissatisfied still. A hungry soul is not to be satisfied with a sense of its hunger, but with more substantial things - with God Himself manifested in the soul. "He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness" (Psa. 107. 9). Not with "hungering and thirsting" but with the glory of the Lord (1 Kings 8. 11), and with the mercy of God (Psa. 90. 14) and with the fatness of the Lord's house shall they be satisfied (Psa. 36. 8) and with the bread of heaven shall they be filled (Psa. 105. 40), which is the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to the heart by the Lord the Spirit (John 6. 47-58). This, and only this, can satisfy a longing, and hungering, and thirsting soul; and whoever is attempting to satisfy such a soul short of this, he is a quack deceiver, and his medicine is opium.

What would you think if someone had said to Jacob, when wrestling with God, "Jacob, your wrestling with God is a true mark of divine life and regeneration; therefore content yourself and be at ease"? or to Hannah, in the act of pouring out her sorrowful spirit to God, "Hannah, your earnest prayer and cries are a proof of life, therefore be at ease and comfort yourself"? or to Job, "Job, you are the subject of despair and terror; therefore rejoice and be glad"? or to Hezekiah, "Your bitterness and anguish of soul from guilt of sin is a proof you are a child of God; therefore be at ease"? Would this not be deception and false peace? It neither would be a true refuge nor an effectual remedy. Jacob's refuge was in being blessed of his God; Hannah's in having her reproach removed, and her sterility turned into fruitfulness; Job's in having his captivity turned and being doubly blessed; and Hezekiah's in a knowledge of the putting away and pardon of his sins. These were the remedies and rest of their wrestling souls with God.

But it is inconsistent with Scripture, true experience and common sense to say the malady or disease is a refuge. Pardon, but not a sense of sin, is a refuge for a guilty conscience; help and power is a refuge for a faint and feeble soul; faith, joy and peace is a refuge for a doubting, fearing and troubled heart; Christ's righteousness manifested and applied to the heart is a refuge for a soul hungering and thirsting after righteousness. The people of God have a knowledge of their salvation by the remission of their sins (Luke 1. 77).

But some men will say, then of what use are evidences? The characters and titles of God's children, and the motions, workings and evidences of divine life in the soul, described in the Word of God, are intended to strengthen and encourage the seeking, longing and fainting soul to pour out copiously and freely the sorrows of its heart into the bosom of God, and to wait and call upon Him for help and deliverance in all times of need. "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God, and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears." David often looked back to his past experience, both his distresses and deliverances; but what was it for? Not to take refuge there, but as a plea to encourage him to wait and call upon God for help and deliverance, to strengthen his heart to hope in His mercy, and to enable him to wait at the posts of the Lord's house till the Lord appeared. "O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar" (Psa. 42. 6). "My heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old" (Psa. 143. 4,5. See Psa. 77).

Living souls, who have not been brought satisfactorily into the liberty of the gospel, from necessity wrestle with God, more or less, from time to time, till they are blessed with it; but while the poor, bewildered, confused and lost soul pours out his melted spirit again and again to God for help and deliverance, and the Lord appears to take no notice at all of him, and the heavens seem as brass to him, then his heart grows sick and his soul faint, and he is ready to sink. Yet fresh necessity is laid upon the soul, fresh anguish pierces the heart; and fresh strugglings for deliverance with groanings and sighings which cannot be uttered are made, until God at length appears for his help, shining into his heart with the glowing beams of His mercy, and blessing his soul with His salvation.

On the walls of every regenerate soul there are placed the divine watchmen, sensibility, necessity, fear, jealousy, anxiety, desire, faith and hope, which never hold their peace, more or less, day nor night, and give the Lord no rest until He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isa. 62. 6,7). See the importunate widow. Shall not God avenge His own elect, who cry unto Him day and night? He shall avenge them speedily, though they cannot believe it when in the furnace. "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." It is squeezing work to enter into the kingdom of heaven experimentally. Now that such struggling, wrestling and fighting souls need strengthening and encouragement needs not proof, but not to hush the watchmen asleep. It would be wisdom in seeking and wrestling souls not to attempt to rest and take refuge in their negative evidences, in times of tribulation, but wrestle with Him till he "bless them there."

I hope, then, by this time Mr. H. will see it is quite possible for a man to make "hungering and thirsting after righteousness, doubts and fears," etc., a refuge of lies, and yet the subjects of these feelings be blessed characters. They are true evidences of divine life in living souls, but false refuges when sheltered in for the purpose I did; and it is to be feared too many are sheltering in them the same way.

Mr. H. further observes, "A dear child of God told me, if the above were true, all her experience was worth nothing, and she was still in her sins." It appears, then, all the religion and all the Christ that Mr. H.'s dear child has got are her negative evidences. Is she resting in these evidences? If so, she is deceived as sure as she is living. A man living and dying without experiencing the earnest of eternal glory, without Christ manifested in his heart by the invincible Spirit, never yet entered heaven. If she is not resting in them, then why is she disturbed at the passage referred to? But I would ask her, has she ever been feelingly delivered from her sins? If she has, pray how was it done - by a revelation of the love and mercy of God in the blood and obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ to her guilty conscience? Or by a sense of her hungering and thirsting, doubts and fears, etc. or if she has not been blessed with the pardon of her sins, how does she expect to be - by the former, or the latter? I think she would blush to say she either had received or expects to receive peace and pardon by the latter; and yet she clings to them as if she did. But be not deceived, nothing but the gospel power put forth in the soul can save (Rom. 1. 16); nothing but blood applied can pardon (Heb. 9. 14); nothing but deliverance experienced can give real liberty, peace and satisfaction (Luke 1. 46-55). All the evidences in the world on the dark, deficient, short, miserable and negative side of the case can never give any of these blessings.

Mr. H. tells you, Messrs. Editors, to "examine your papers well; otherwise, instead of a lamp, you may become a stumbling- block." But I would rather have my shins broken over a stumbling-block any day than be led into thawing ice or quick-sand, or suspended over a dangerous precipice by the rotten branch of a tree. I believe many of those who are so fond of removing stumbling-blocks, as they say, out of the way of weak souls are the worst enemies to real peace, spiritual growth and true establishment of the soul in the grace of Christ. Mostly they are false-peace administers.

But why is there so much noise about this refuge of lies? Why, what ran Laban after Jacob for? Was it not for his gods? And why did the Philistines send the ark of God out of their land in such haste? Why, because it snapped off the head and brake through the palms of the hands of their favourite god Dagon. But I feel quite undisturbed about it. The matter rests between God and my own soul; and I know from experience what has been a false and what a true refuge to me; and the best way of conviction is to let others come at it the same way, and those who have experienced it I leave to judge. Amen.