of the Meeting in Chang An
one hand and to help the church on the other. When Brother Yang Teh Huei arrived and saw the church in this condition, he was very sad! Not long after this, Brother Lai came home from Wenchow and passed through this locality. The two of them discussed how to deal with the church there. They decided to invite the responsible brothers from a few of the localities in the area to meet with them on July 8 to specifically deal with those who had committed the six kinds of sin mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:11 and with other matters of the administration of the church. Thank the Lord! The sinners in this locality were dealt with as were those in Hsiao Chien, Sung Hsiu Yang, and Chang An. This individualistic brother was also dealt with. He repented, grieved, shed tears, and confessed his past errors. His wife was as sad as he was! There are now twelve brothers and sisters in the table meetings. There are more than ten others who come to hear the messages but do not yet take the table. Brother Yang Teh Huei is mainly responsible for the messages and edification on the Lord's Day. Brothers Ho Teng Ch'in and Ho Teng Yung are responsible for the other affairs of the meeting.
16. The Beginning and Condition of the Meeting in Chang An Originally, there were a few brothers in this locality who met in Lien T'ou. It is not far from here to Lien T'ou (about seven miles). Why did they separate? It was probably because a few brothers preached only one side of the truth. They gained part of the truth but had not seen the whole picture. They erroneously explained the matter of worshipping God and made up a new term—"New Testament Assembly"—and said that the church is not restricted by location or numbers, and that as long as two or three were gathered in one accord, they could meet in any place. Many brothers heard this and wanted to separate immediately. Although the experienced brothers exhorted them to wait before separating, some of them wanted to meet closer to home and were afraid of the distance, so they had much to say. The brothers then separated. When they separated, there were just a few people. They have not increased at all, nor has their spiritual condition improved. In fact, they have backslidden and are not clean now! Fortunately, after the conference in Lien T'ou, they were dealt with. If they had not received this dealing, they would be in danger now. Many brothers are exhorting them to go back to the meetings in Lien T'ou, but they still do not really want to. Oh, it is really easy to separate but difficult to combine. There are