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Title: A Book of Gems
       Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin

Author: Benjamin Franklin

Release Date: January 20, 2018 [EBook #56404]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

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[iii]

[1]

NATION after nation rises, enters and occupies a place among the nations of the earth, falls, and is only known in the faithful records of history. Generation after generation comes forth, enters upon the great theatre of life, throngs the world for a little while, falls in death and passes into eternity. Upon an average, about once in thirty-three years, the whole of the inhabitants of the earth, or as many as are upon it at any one time, over one billion souls, are carried beyond the reach of all missionary effort—beyond the reach of all repentance—all gospel invitations, and so many as are not saved, beyond all possibility of salvation. During the same short period, the preachers, missionaries, writers and professors of religion of one generation are all born where no mistakes can be corrected, and no amendment for wrongs done, or time trifled away, can ever be made. Taking off from this time, eighteen years for childhood, only leaves about fifteen years for the vast work of personal preparation, for a state of boundless duration in the pure and holy society of just men made perfect, the angels of God, Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant, and God, the Judge of all. It also leaves about the same length of time for the good and virtuous, those with the love of God in their hearts, and lovers of mankind to make an effort to save our race. [2] In this view of the subject—and no other can be justly taken—it will readily be perceived that what we do must be done quickly. Those who do anything for mankind, must engage in the work immediately and with energy. All who intend laying up a good foundation against the time to come—laying up treasure in heaven to which they can go, and upon which they can rely when their temporal supports shall all fail, must commence the work immediately, persevere in it, and abound during the short space afforded them. There must be no delay, for there is simply time enough to do what must be done immediately, if done at all. Those who have never prepared to meet God, have still greater reason to enter at once upon the examination of the subject. With them, everything to secure their eternal happiness, so far as their own action is concerned, is yet to be done.

How short the time, in view of the amount to be done; and how carefully every moment should be employed by every person who has not been reconciled to God. What vast multitudes, throng our streets, lanes and highways, who have never seriously thought upon, much less taken the elementary steps, to come to God, and who will remain in their present condition, unless arrested in their thoughtless career, by those who have already tested the good word of God, and felt the power of the world to come. What an everlasting reason we find here for a most energetic, persevering, and godly effort to rescue them and bring them to God.

[3]

THE people God has raised up in the nineteenth century and founded upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus the Christ, the chief corner-stone, have not been raised up in vain. Only a small part of their work is in history yet. What has been done is only a drop to the bucket of the stupendous work to be accomplished. It is only a foretaste, an earnest of what is yet to come. It is only the incipient movement, the inauguration of the work, the entering wedge. The great body of the work lies in the future. Let no man become disheartened if a few faint-hearted do turn back and hanker after the flesh-pots of Egypt. In all great movements some of these have been found. They were in the camps of Moses and among the first followers of Jesus. They have been the timid, faithless time-servers, afraid of the people and lovers of the world. But these are only spots in the feast, mere blemishes, and no more to the great body than the spots in the sun compared with that wonderful body. These poor little souls that desire to be like the clergy, or to be actual clergymen themselves; that want titles, and the people to call them Dr., Rev.; that get on the white cravat, the priestly coat buttoned up to the chin; that drop on their knees and make a public private prayer, as they enter the “sacred desk,” and that teach the disciples to drop the head and offer a secret private public prayer before an assembly, are not the men whom God sends. They [4] are the men who think the largest offer in money is the loudest call from God, and the call which they obey most implicitly. They can be bought and sold like sheep and oxen. God never calls such men as these. They are a burlesque on the religion of Jesus Christ; the plainness, simplicity and humility of our Lord. The idea has never entered into their heads to be servants of Jesus Christ. Their idea is to be masters. They are not thinking of obeying, unless to obey the men with the largest purses; but their idea is to be obeyed. They are not thinking of adoring, but of being adored. The third epistle of Peter is the one in which they find their likeness, and they are following the directions in that epistle. Some of these may be reformed, and others will go to their own place. They are not the men that run the world; the world runs them.

But there is another class, that do not worship at the same altar with these, nor are they of the same stripe. They do not draw their divinity from clerical titles or clerical attire, nor from public private prayers, from imitating Jewish rabbis, or sectarian rabbis, from imitating ancient or modern Pharisees or Sadducees, but from the living oracles of the living God. They are not under the thumbs of rich men, nor under the influence of high salaries; nor ancient nor modern priests. They cannot be bought and sold. They are the Lord’s free men. They have cut loose from the bondage of the world of sin, of sectarianism and the clergy. They belong to Christ. They get their gospel from him. They are his servants. They adore and worship him. They are men of faith and of prayer, too, but when they pray in [5] secret, it is in secret, where none but Him who sees in secret sees them. They know their Bible and they are devoted to it. There is a grand army of these, we believe, as time as the needle to the pole. We cannot say that there are seven thousand in the field, public preachers, but we are astonished wherever we go to find such numbers of them, and to find their firmness and determination in the faith; and to learn, too, of the sacrifices they are making and the additional sacrifices they are determined and willing to make. They are many of them living almost as economically as we did thirty years ago, in our incipient work of opening the way.

When the British general found General Marion living on roots, and his men fighting without pay, he admitted that the prospect of overcoming such men was gloomy. So, when our opposers see the glorious army of which we speak, of faithful young men struggling with only a half support, and, in some instances, not that, and behold the love for the gospel, the Lord Jesus and their fellow-men that impels them on; and when they witness their determination, zeal and energy; that they cannot be discouraged, disheartened and turned back, they give up all idea of ever conquering them or withstanding them. Let not one word we are saying be construed into an excuse for any Christian who has the ability not sustaining these precious men whom God has raised and put into the field. Nor need any one wait for a “plan,” nor an “organization,” or “system.” Plans, organizations and systems give no money. Men and women must give the money, if it is given at all. No man who has the means, and refuses to do his part, according to the ability God has given, to aid in this glorious work, need flatter himself that [6] he will be a partaker in the final reward. According as a man sows shall he also reap. We know that there are hard-hearted and sordid men in the church, that do nothing of consequence, and men of this sort that will never be any better. They have but one idea ingrained and imprinted on their entire being, and that is to hang on with a grasp like death itself to the goods of this world. But the good and the true, the men of faith, and love, and zeal; the men who have their eye on a kingdom not of this world, and who are devoted to saving men and women from ruin, will not stop for these, nor brood over them, but turn away from them as they do from other abandoned characters who are past feeling, and go on with their glorious work. God will be with them, and, though poor in this world, they will be rich in faith, and the Lord will hold them up.

But what has this great army of young preachers to do? Where is their work? There is work enough for them to do. The only fear we have is, that when they look and see the vastness of the work, they will think, like one of old, “There be more against us than for us.” We have a vast amount of worldliness and carnality to drive out of the Church; conformity to the world; love of pleasure more than love of God; the love of Christ to restore; the gospel and the true worship. Where the cause has gone back, it must be recovered; where the gospel has been lost and superseded by something else, it must be restored, and where the worship has been corrupted, it must be purified, and the right way of the Lord established. Men who do not love the gospel, the worship and the things of God, will slough off when everything is driven out [7] that did not come from God; when the only things they loved are taken away. In a few instances entire congregations may be carried away with worldly policies and appliances; but the whole number thus lost will amount to but little, compared with the grand throng that will stand together for the faith once delivered to the saints, and that will go on. What remains for good men to do is, to go on; stand fast; be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might; put on the whole armor of God and fight the good fight of faith, and stand to the Bible and nothing else, and thus make the Bible a grand power in the earth. We have started with our Bible, and let us go on with it and carry it through the world. We have a book that nobody denies, except out and out skeptics, and one of supreme authority. Let us assert and maintain its authority, and carry it through the world. All the other books that in any way rival it, or are in anywise in the way of it, must be set aside and rendered a dead letter. There is not one particle of divine authority in anything that did not come out of the Bible. We must push all other books aside.

All the names not applied to the people and Church of God in the Scriptures must be repudiated and discarded, and we must determine to speak of the people and Church of God in the language of Scripture. This we can do; to this, no child of God can reasonably object. There will be no difficulty in this, when we shall have no other kind of people or Church but the people and Church of God. While we have other kinds of people and churches, we shall need other names for them. But we shall have no trouble about this, for they will select and give [8] themselves other names, such as they think fitting and appropriate. All we have to do in the matter is to call them by the names they give themselves. If they will not permit the Lord to name them, but will call themselves by some name not given to the Lord’s people in the Bible, it is their own doing, not ours. There is no reason why the Lord’s people should follow their example, and not accept the designations found in Scripture, and use them exclusively. If we are the Lord’s people, we can be spoken of in the language of Scripture; if we are not, then we might have some other name.

AFTER Moses states the wonderful fact that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” without stating when it was, only that it was “in the beginning,” he proceeds to give a brief account of the state of things after this first fact, and before the work of the six days. He says: “The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” This state of things was preceded by the creation of the heaven and the earth. The next thing in the successive acts was to operate on material created, brought into existence; to form or fashion it. What was the first thing? “The Spirit [9] of God moved upon the face of the waters.” This was not bringing into existence, but operating on that which was in existence. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” Here we have the work of the first day. What was done on that day was not the same, no matter how we describe it, as the first act. It was forming, shaping, operating on material previously brought into existence.

Moses proceeds, “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And he called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.” Here we have the work of the second day, like that of the first day, forming, fashioning and bringing order out of chaos. This “firmament,” that God made, and “called Heaven,” is not the same as mentioned in the first verse, but is included in the words: “The heavens and the earth.” This is the work of arrangement, ordering, etc.

Then follow the gathering together the waters into one place, and the bringing to view the dry land, the naming of the dry land, Earth, and the gathering together of the waters of the seas; the ordering of the grass, the herb, the fruit-tree upon the earth. This was the work of the third day. Then comes the ordering the heavenly bodies, the great lights for day and night, the dividing the light from the darkness, [10] etc., the work of the fourth day. All this is fashioning, forming, arranging, ordering, and not creating from nothing. Then follows the ordering of the waters, to bring forth the fishes, the fowl, and all the inhabitants of the seas on the fifth day. This is followed by the ordering the earth to bring forth the cattle, the creeping thing, and all the lower orders of the inhabitants of the earth, and concludes the work of the sixth day by the creation of man, or forming him in the image of God.

We have both the words “made,” and “created,” used and applied to this work of the six days, where it is manifestly used in the sense of shaping, forming, fashioning, ordering, arranging, and not in the sense of the word “created” in the first sentence in the Bible, where it manifestly means creating from nothing or bringing into existence. This wonderful act of the Infinite One, of bringing into existence the heaven and the earth—this stupendous universe—may have been performed an indefinite period of time before the commencement of the work of the six days described by Moses. In this view there is no danger. It makes the work of the Creator none the less wonderful, glorious and overwhelming. It matters not how long before the work of the six days it was that “God created the heaven and the earth,” or brought the universe into existence. Nor need we be startled at this. The work of the six days, as described by Moses, is wonderful beyond all human imagination. We can comprehend but little of it. We may well exclaim, as Paul did, in view of a different matter: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his [11] judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? For of him, and through him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.”

THE entire lottery scheme is gambling. The desire and intention in lotteries is to get money by a base method, or, in other words, dishonestly. The desire and intention is to get money without rendering an equivalent, or to get something for nothing. The man or company that conducts a lottery knows the precise per cent. that is made in selling out the tickets. If everything is conducted fairly; that is, what they call fairly; that is, to conduct according to their proposed rule, some few would draw prizes of much value and some larger number will draw small prizes, while the great body of them will draw nothing. They simply give their money to make up the prizes that others draw, and make a fine purse to run the establishment. Think of the following:

1. We do not profess to know, but probably if the green ones that buy lottery tickets would pay $100,000 for tickets, all the prizes they would all draw would not amount to more than $66,000, thus leaving $34,000 in the concern. This is swindle No. 1, to the tune of $34,000! [12]

2. There can be but very few who can draw prizes of any considerable value, for there are but few of that kind in the concern. The purchasers of lottery tickets would be astonished to know how few could possibly draw a prize to the amount of $1,000, if enough would draw tickets to pay in $100,000.

3. They would be still more astonished to know how few can draw even small prizes, and most of all astonished to know how few can draw anything.

4. The concern proceeds on a principle of dishonesty on both sides—the principle of getting something for nothing. The man that studies how to do this, and tries to accomplish it, studies dishonesty and how to practice it. In its very nature it is corrupting, and must end in degrading a man. Young men ought to shun it as they would a viper.

NO man goes through the country delivering able and finely-prepared discourses advocating dancing, going to theatres, playing innocent games for amusement, etc., etc. These things, like the weeds in the garden, need no advocates, but come themselves, and that, too, in opposition to all moral feeling, restraints and entreaties. They are not cultivated fruit, but the spontaneous growth that must be removed before we can have the precious fruits of the Spirit. They are the [13] fruits of the flesh, of the carnal mind. The man who builds up churches, maintains the spiritual devotions, order, purity, discipline, elevates and ennobles humanity, must work; war against the flesh and all the works of the flesh; cultivate, be faithful and watchful. He has something to do more than to inquire, what harm is it?

The Romish Church has reached the climax in the easy system. She makes her members chiefly of infants before they can make any successful resistance, and then never excludes except for heresy. In this way she has grown up to the enormous number of about two hundred million, or one-sixth of the inhabitants of the world. Dancing, drunkenness, or any other works of the flesh except heresy forfeit no membership in that carnal body. We do not want to go back toward that body.

There are more than seven thousand or seven times seven thousand, remaining, who have not consented to any departure, who are to-day as determined for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as A. Campbell was in the best days of the Christian Baptist, and the man who talks to them about any new departure under the name of progression, or any other name, is not only idling away his time and talent, but letting himself down in their estimation from the faith to sectarianism. They estimate a man, not by his learning, his talent or money, but by his love to the Lord Jesus the Christ. They judge of this love by his integrity to the Lord, as seen in a strict adherence to the gospel, the teaching of the Lord and his apostles; his example; his appointed worship; all he said and did; his devotion to the Lord in all respects; a settled and determined adherence to him in all things. [14]

Men may turn away from him, and some will, as some did under the eyes of the apostles. Whole churches will turn away and go to nothing, and the names of some men will stand ingloriously connected with these ruins. The first churches the Lord established have long since been buried in ruins, but the men who spread the desolation will not be overlooked in the eternal judgment. They will there receive their last notoriety. The Lord has not raised the building now standing on the rock, in vain, but to stand the pillar and support of the truth. The main body understand that they have entered into covenant with God, and that they are bound by all the honor that is in them to maintain every inch of ground they have gained. There is, we believe, salt enough in this body to preserve it. It has the power and Spirit of God in it; and God will hold it up and perpetuate it when men who have it not will be forgotten. By the grace of God it will stand till the Lord comes. Let us labor to “present it to him a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.”

[15]

THERE are two senses in which things are ascribed to God. 1. When he does things directly, as in the work of creation. 2. When he permits things to be done. In this latter sense God raised up and hardened Pharaoh. It is simply in the sense of permission—permitted him to rise up and be hardened. The hardening is also ascribed to Pharaoh. He hardened himself. This was the direct act. He did it. When the holy writer is looking at the providence of God, in permitting him to rise up into power, and assigning a reason for it, the explanation is made, that it was done to make known his power in all the earth. This is the sense in which God raises up kings and other rulers, that are bad, and uses them as vessels fitted for destruction. He permits them to rule and rule badly, do wickedly; oppress the people, as vessels of dishonor and wrath, making them examples to all the earth, in their overthrow and utter ruin, to teach other rulers and the people that they are all in the hands of the Lord.

The judgments of God have two different results on men, either, on the one hand, to subdue the heart and lead to repentance, or to harden the heart and lead to greater deeds of cruelty and oppression. When the holy writer speaks of it, in view of the case where men are hardened and become worse by it, he says, God hardened them. In the other case, [16] where they are subdued and led to repentance by it, he says, God makes them “vessels of mercy,” leads them to repentance and saves them. The dealings of God are precisely alike in both cases, but the result is different. In one case it is a savor of life, in the other of death. The difference is not in the divine treatment, but in the patients. The one becomes a vessel of wrath, and the other a vessel of mercy. God is said to save the one and harden the other, because we have the two results from the same treatment. In that sense it is from God and ascribed to him, in both the hardening and saving. See the following:

“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil I thought to them.” See Jer. xviii. 7, 8. This assures us, that where a nation or a kingdom repent, the Lord turns away the threatened calamity. The Lord then states the case for a nation that shall turn away from the Lord:

“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then will I repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.” See Jer. xviii. 9, 10. This sets forth the foundation of making vessels of honor and of wrath. God can make either the one, or the other. The ground of his doing this is their doing good and doing evil.

When God sent a judgment on Pharaoh, to subdue him and lead him to repentance, he promised to repent and let the children of Israel go; [17] but then hardened his heart, broke his promise and refused to let them go. This was repeated ten times on him, and every time he broke his promise and he became still more hardened, and God permitted him thus to go on till his overthrow, thus making the power of God known in all the earth, and making the hardened monarch of Egypt an example to all the nations to follow. No doubt God hardens men now in the same sense as he did Pharaoh, subdues and leads others to repentance as he did the Ninevites, who repented at the preaching of Jonah.

IN an age when people compare themselves with their neighbors, look at the comparative size of their hymn books, the size, splendor and elegance of the temples in which they meet, the amount of money they raise, their church organs, festivals, choirs, popular preachers and numerical strength, the census is looked to with great concern; but where people are greatly devoted to the Lord, diligently striving to please him and be accepted of him in the great day, they are led to think of the piety of the people, their purity, their culture; their faith, and hope and love; their efforts to save men and build up the kingdom of God, and not to be troubled seriously about how they shall [18] appear in the census. We are vastly more concerned about maintaining the purity of the gospel, the faithfulness of the preaching, the discipline and order of the church, the pure worship as prescribed in the law of God, than we are about the census. We are more concerned about how we appear before the Lord than we are how we appear before man.

We are perfectly contented and satisfied with the things of God as set forth in Scripture. We are contented and satisfied with the very words and forms of speech in which God speaks to man. We love the lowliness, simplicity and humility of Jesus. It is the manifestation of infinite wisdom and goodness. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are vain.” He takes the wise in their own craftiness.

THE early members in our great movement in this country were nearly all preachers. They read the Scriptures to and talked with their neighbors, explained matters to them, and, in many instances, when the preacher came they were already convinced and ready for baptism; or, if they had been baptized ready for uniting on the Bible. This accounts for our having such large success by preaching a few discourses. Much [19] of the preaching was done before the preacher came, by private members and in private circles. These were missionary people in the true sense. They were in the work all the time. They did not need games of amusement for pastime. They had no time to spare. They were all busy, and all alive and at work. The love and spirit of God were in them, and the divine influence was shed all round. They did not have a little missionary spasm, pray a week for the spread of the gospel, give a few dollars and do no more for three months or a year, but they prayed for the spread of the gospel all the time; kept at the work of spreading it all the time. They had no trouble about plans, but kept at the work, and spread the gospel. It can be spread in the same way again, and is being thus spread largely now wherever it is spread at all. If we honestly desire to spread the gospel of the grace of God, to turn sinners to the Lord, free them from the manacles of sin and death, and save them, let us go to work and do it. There is nothing to hinder us, if we have the faith and love and zeal, from carrying it forward to any extent. The people are weary of sectarianism, and ready to hear something intelligible on the way of salvation.

[20]

IF we are to depart from the Jerusalem Church because it was in its infancy, and not reproduce the primitive church, we should like to know how far we are to depart from it, and in what. If the faith and practice, the precept and example of the primitive church may not be adopted now and followed; if in all things we should not now have the same faith and practice, precept and example they had, we should be pleased for some expounder of the new doctrine to explain to us in what the departure shall consist, and what rule we are to adopt now. If we let go of the rule that governed the first church, what rule shall we adopt? If we cut loose from the divine, shall we adopt a human rule? If so, what human rule? Some one of these already made? or shall we have the presumption and folly to think we can make a better one than these human rules already in use?

We are not ready to cut loose from the Jerusalem Church, its rule of faith and practice, its precept and example. We have more confidence in the old ground than ever, and have no idea of departing from the Jerusalem Church, its faith and practice, precepts and example. The men that will not stand on apostolic ground, the faith and practice of the first church, will not stand on anything long. We want something reliable, permanent, sure and steadfast—a kingdom that cannot be [21] moved. In the old Bible, the old gospel and the old church, we find it. Here is something to lean upon living and dying, for this world and the world to come. If we leave this, all is uncertainty, darkness and night. Let us “hear what the Spirit says to the churches,” and not he of those who “depart from the faith,” giving heed to seducing spirits, and not listen to “unstable souls,” or those “ever learning and never able to the knowledge of the truth.”

THERE is but one birth mentioned or alluded to in the conversation with Nicodemus.

There is but one kingdom mentioned or alluded to in the conversation.

The conversation is about one birth and entering into one kingdom. The whole is in the phrase, “You must be born again,” or the previous phrase, “Except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God.” This figurative expression “born again,” is precisely the same, or includes the same as conversion. A man born again is a man converted. In being born again precisely the same agencies are employed, and the same thing is accomplished as when a man is converted. This is literally a man turned from darkness to light, from the world to God. This is not done by the agency of water without the agency of the [22] Spirit. There is no such thing as a birth of water without the Spirit. A man is “born again,” not by water without the Spirit, nor by the Spirit without the water, but “born of water and of the Spirit,” no matter how many fine theories are spoiled. Nothing leads to more useless theories and speculations than attempts to build a theory on a figurative expression. The literal must always explain the figurative. The clear and unfigurative language of the commission has precisely the same in it as the phrase, “born of water and of the Spirit.” “He who believes and is immersed shall be saved.” Believes, in this passage, is literal. Born of the Spirit, or, which is the same, “begotten of the Spirit,” is figurative. The meaning is the same as, “I have begotten you by the gospel,” or made you believers by the gospel. Begotten of God is made a believer of God. Begotten of the Spirit is made a believer by the Spirit. It is in some instances ascribed to God in view of his being the Author of it. It is ascribed to Christ in view of it being through his mediation. It is ascribed to the Spirit in view of his inspiring the apostles or speaking in them, and thus making believers, and those thus made believers are said to be begotten of the Spirit, and, when immersed, said to be “born of water and of the Spirit.” This is precisely all there is in it.

There is nothing about the resurrection in it, the first resurrection or any other resurrection, unless it be a resurrection to a new life. Nor is anything in the resurrection ever called “a birth of the Spirit.” We are perfectly aware that the dead will be quickened by the Spirit, and that the Spirit of Christ will quicken their mortal bodies; that Christ was the “first-born from the dead,” the “first-born among [23] many brethren,” and that the dead will be raised at the sound of the trumpet, but there is not one word about all this or an allusion to it in the conversation with Nicodemus. Nor is there one word about or allusion to the everlasting kingdom in that conversation. We must not make something out of that conversation that is not in it.

Nicodemus was standing on his birth-right, “born in thy house,” as expressed Gen. xvii. 13, for membership. The Lord sweeps this away in one sentence: “Except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God.” His being born in the house or family of Abraham availed nothing. “Flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God.” No matter in whose family he was born nor whose blood coursed in his veins, a man must be born again, born from above, born of water and of the Spirit, or he cannot enjoy the kingdom of God. As the Spirit is the agent through whom the gospel is preached, and the gospel the instrument by which the Spirit makes believers, the agent is mentioned for the effect, which is belief—made believers by the Spirit and baptized into Christ, into one body. It is of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, of the apostles and by the word.

There is no such thing as the new birth without the Spirit, nor any such thing as entering into the kingdom of God or the body of Christ. The faith, the work of the Spirit in preaching the gospel, through the apostles, and baptism, or, figuratively, “born of water,” must be present. The man who believes the gospel with all his heart and is immersed into Christ is “born of water and of the Spirit” in the sense intended by the Savior.

[24]

WE need a higher morality, a more pure and unadulterated piety and greater simplicity of benevolence. We do not want money extracted from the pockets of the people by the Church offering them sensual gratification, amusements and entertainments, to say nothing of the ball, the lottery and other gambling. Let us in the name of the Lord and of religion, in a manly way, come directly to the people for means to support religion and ask them to give from love to Christ, and no matter if we do not obtain one-fourth the amount it will do ten times as much good. The Lord needs no money made by lotteries, gambling, fairs, festivals, or any such appeals to the lust of the flesh, the human appetite, the love of fine companies, etc. He needs no money only that given to him through love and devotion to his cause. Those who appeal to entertainments, amusements, fine companies of men and women, the dance, lotteries, festivals, fairs, etc., etc., thus publish to the world their impression that there is more potency in these worldly and secular appliances than there is in the grace of God and the love of Christ, and we doubt not they find it to be so, in raising money in their assemblies. They have tried it and demonstrated it to be so. We care not if it be so; we care not if it has been demonstrated that the people will give more money for a monkey [25] show than for the kingdom of God; we will not resort to the monkey show; nor do we care if they will give more money for revelling than for the holy cause for which Jesus died; we will not resort to the revelling. There are other matters aside from the question, how much money can we raise, that must be kept in view.

We must maintain our piety, devotion to the Lord, purity, and must not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind. We have never consented to this modern element that will appeal to anything and everything that will raise money. It is not Godliness, nor the love of God, but sensual; it is devilish. Come directly to the children of God in the name of the Lord and appeal to them for his sake to give, to give freely and of a willing mind; that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” and appreciate what is given in his name.

WE will not go back to the Old Testament to find any office or officer in the kingdom of Christ. What currency, then, has the word “pastor” in the New Testament? The word is in the New Testament, in some translations, in one place. That is its entire currency in the new and everlasting covenant. But then the word “Easter” is found in one place in the common version. Is that authority for Easter? If it is [26] in the New Testament in one place, rightfully, it is authority as much as if it were in fifty places. But how does it happen to be there in one place? If the translators had, in that one place, given us passover, as they have done in every other instance to represent the same original, we should have had no Easter in the New Testament. In the same way, if the translators had given us the word shepherds, Eph. iv. 11, as they have done in every other case to represent the same original word, we should have had no pastor in the New Testament. On this one variation from the rule, to translate poimeen, shepherd, hangs the “pastorate,” so called, the office for the pastor, and we might add, all the “installations,” etc. Probably it is Dr. Watts that exclaims, with other matters before him: “Great God! on what a brittle thread hangs eternal things!” On what a slender prop hangs the pastorate! Still, on this platform the pastors stand.

In one place and only one, in some translations, the original word for shepherd, and so translated in every other place in the New Testament, is translated pastors. When the common version appeared, King James issued a proclamation commanding the translation to be read as the word of God. If we obey this command we must read the Latin word pastor as the word of God, though the same translators give us shepherd as the English representative of the original word poimeen in every other occurrence of it in the New Testament. In this way we get divine authority in the word of God, and human authority from King James, not only for the unscriptural pastorate in the Church [27] of England, but the equally unscriptural pastorate now trying to grow up among us, first under one plausible pretext and then under another.

Why translate poimeen, shepherd, in every other place, and cover up the word shepherd with the Latin word pastor in one place? Whatever idea the Lord and the apostles intended to convey in this matter, they deemed the one word sufficient. What reason can any man give for representing the original word poimeen by the word shepherd in every instance but one, and there using the Latin word pastor? Rome loves Latin. It is not the vulgar tongue. What reason is there for departing from the otherwise invariable rule and giving us pastor, Eph. iv. 11? Why not give us “Chief-Pastor,” or “Arch-Pastor,” and not “Chief-Shepherd?” Why not style the Lord “the Pastor of the sheep,” and not “Shepherd of the sheep?” Pastor would not read well as the correlative of sheep. We hear sermons on the offices of our Lord, as King, Priest, Prophet. Why not have a sermon on his office as Pastor? Then we might have a sermon on the office of the church as a flock, or the office of the members as sheep. Could we not say flock’s office, sheep’s office? The Lord has no such office as shepherd, or, in Latin, pastor. There is no such office as pastorate, nor officer as pastor. There is not one word in the New Covenant about the qualifications of a pastor, the election of one, the calling of one, or the installation of one. As the correlative of the word flock, when the church is figuratively called flock, the Lord who cares for the flock and has the oversight of it is figuratively called Shepherd, or, when the followers of the Lord are figuratively called sheep, the Lord is figuratively called “the Shepherd of the sheep.” [28] When the Lord is called “the Chief-Shepherd,” or “Arch-Shepherd,” the church is in view as the flock of which he is Shepherd, and the overseers in the church are under shepherds, but there is no shepherd’s office, nor flock’s office. The bishops or overseers are as certainly bishops or overseers, when figuratively called shepherds, as if literally called overseers. No other office or work is meant.

Coming now to the practical matter, we desire Bible things and Bible names for them. We desire to preserve the church and everything in it as the Lord gave it. We desire, in the matter in hand, to prevent the creation of any new office in the church. There is nothing new or unscriptural in the idea of an overseer who devotes himself wholly to the word and teaching. There may be other overseers who do not give themselves wholly to the word and teaching. Then there is nothing unscriptural in an evangelist remaining with a church one, two or more years, to set in order things that are wanting, assist in qualifying the church to take care of itself, and preach the gospel to the community. In this capacity he is not a church officer at all, but doing the work of an evangelist. He is not with the church to “perform divine service” for it, to lord it over it, or as a ruler, nor permanently, but assisting the church in her infancy and enabling her to take care of herself.

Every preacher connected with any church is laboring in one of these two senses: as an overseer who labors in the word and teaching, or as an evangelist. In the former capacity he may be there permanently. In the latter capacity he is not there permanently, but setting in order [29] the things wanting, with a view to qualifying themselves to every good word and work; to instruct and edify one another in love, but intending to go on to another place as soon as he has finished his work where he is. But the overseer who labors in the word and teaching is not to assume any airs of authority, or any great chair with his subordinates on more humble seats by his side. We abominate all these great chairs, pulpits and preferences for public men. If they are good men they do not want them, and if they are bad men they certainly should not be honored with them. Really great and good men are plain men—want no great chair nor great titles. They need no priestly robes, clerical coats nor titles. They make a record that tells the story for them. They do the work. Let us do the work, seek the simplicity of Jesus and the humility of children. While we sing, “Nearer, my God, to thee,” let us strive to live nearer to God and do our utmost to excel in understanding and practicing precisely what the Lord has laid before us in the Scriptures.

[30]

WE will call no man Reverend. We make this a matter of conscience. There is no more reason or gospel for addressing a preacher differently from other men than there is for a preacher to be attired differently. If a man is not preacher enough to be known as a preacher, without the white necktie or the priestly coat, let him pass without being known. We like to treat a preacher, or even a Roman priest, with common civility, but we do all that when we treat him as any other gentleman. We want no preacher’s garb nor titles, and will recognize none of them. Many have those who have never been “born again;” who are not in the kingdom of God—not Christians.

WE must say a few things in the way of generals before we come to particulars. We visited a church some years since, and there was quite a general impression among the members that their preacher did not suit them—that he was not “the right man in the right place,” etc. Many fine things were said, as to the kind of a man they needed, etc., [31] and the idea prevailed that they had better turn their preacher off and get another. We suggested to them in a circle one day that possibly they had not at all discovered the real malady; that possibly the main difficulty was not at all in reference to the kind of a preacher they needed, but to the kind of a church they needed; that possibly the change they needed could be effected by turning off the church and getting another and a better one.

WE need a vast amount of instruction in regard to both the Old Testament and the New, not only in the sunday-school, but in the church, the family, and to individuals. We need some thorough work in this matter. Much of what is now passing for teaching both the Old Testament and New is in no proper sense teaching either the Old or New Testament. The general idea is, that the Old Testament embraces all the sacred writings or the books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis and ending with Malachi, and that the New Testament embraces all the sacred writings or books of the Bible, beginning with Matthew and ending with Revelation. Such is the sense in which these terms are now used. When it is said, the Old Testament is abolished, the idea generally received [32] is that all the sacred writings, or the books of the Bible, from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Malachi, are set aside, of no use, and not to be studied. This is a very superficial view, and one that in no sense comprehends the matter.

The word “testament” means covenant, and the Old Testament is simply in the Bible sense the Old Covenant. This was made with the seed of Abraham, or fleshly Israel, and includes what Paul calls “the law.” This is what he calls “our pedagogue to bring us to Christ.” It is not “school-master” as the common version has it, but pedagogue. His office was different from that of school-teacher. It was to take charge of the children from the time they started from their homes till they reached the school-room and put under the teacher. This was the office of the law of Moses, to take charge of the seed of Abraham, Israel according to the flesh, and bring them to Christ the School-teacher. Paul does not say, as some quote him, “The law is our school-master to bring us to Christ,” but being a Jew, and speaking as such, he says, “The law was our pedagogue to bring us to Christ,” the School-teacher. This law, containing a full development of all that was in the covenant with the seed of Abraham, or fleshly Israel, is what was abolished, had waxed old, and was ready to vanish away in Paul’s day. This most certainly did not include the history in the five books of Moses, or any other history in the Old Book, commonly called the “Old Testament,” the book of Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, or the Prophecies. None of these are abolished, but are all of as much value to those under Christ, and as legitimate books for study, as they ever were to any people in any age of the world. They are not included in the [33] law, or the covenant, or in what was abolished, but have a relation to the gospel, to those in the kingdom of Christ, and are of immense value.

By making ourselves well acquainted with the sacred writings, the dealings of God with man, and the portions of revelation given in various manners and at sundry times, we can see as we can in nature now that we have revelation through which to read it, that there was one Divine Mind before the beginning of time that looked down through the ages, and by the agency of men that did not understand him, carried out his wise and gracious counsels according to his eternal purpose. Going back to the early sacred writings found in the Old Book we look down through these writings to Christ, the kingdom of God, the gospel, as one looking through a telescope at objects in the distance; but, standing at the other end of revelation, we look up through the New Book containing the revelations given at later periods to the persons and events of the Old Book, as one who turns the telescope the other end foremost, and bring Moses and the prophets down near to us.

Christ is the soul of the Bible, the theme of the revelation from God to man. Turn the portions of revelation given at early periods, next to the eye and look down through the Bible, and through the ages to Christ, and then turn the last part of revelation to the eye, and look up through it to Christ, and we thus find that it all centers in Him “who is Head over all things to the church.”

It is not right in the church, family, or anywhere, to teach the Old Scriptures exclusively, or the New, but teach both, in their [34] relation to each other. The New can not be thoroughly and successfully studied without the Old, nor the Old without the New.

The popular custom of memorizing and repeating verses in view of prizes to the most successful, or the study and answer of such questions, as who was the first man, who was the oldest man, who was the meekest man, etc., gives us no understanding of the Scriptures. Much of this is a mere exercise of the memory, and there is nothing in it to make a pious impression, or give any comprehension of the mind of God. It appears at times wonderful how many things can be taught, and correctly enough too, about the Bible, and at the same time keep out of view entirely the divine purpose, the very import and intention of the wonderful book professedly taught. The eternal purpose of God, running through the Bible from side to side, as it does through the works of nature, should be taught and kept in view, not to find any definite number that will certainly be saved or lost, but to find the Lord’s Anointed, his gospel and kingdom; a revelation of the mystery, an unfolding of the secret hid in God from before the beginning of time, but now made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.

[35]

NO matter how many go the wrong way, nor how popular they are, nor how much money they have, the Lord is able to bring them to judgment, and he will most certainly do it. When the people went away from the temple and abandoned him, and only a few disciples remained with him, and he inquired of them: “Will you also go away?” the prospect looked dim, but the Lord did not change his course. When he expired on the cross the enemies exulted and triumphed; but their triumph did not last long. “He was quickened by the Spirit.” God raised him up. “He was justified by the Spirit.” The armies in heaven were with him. The upper world was in motion. God vindicated him, as he did all who will listen to him. When they burned Tyndale at the stake they thought they had put him down; but, while the names of his persecutors have, with few exceptions, gone into oblivion, the name of Tyndale is held in esteem by all good men. The name of Luther will live to the end of time, while the time-servers who opposed him are rapidly sinking into forgetfulness. The man that leads the people to God, to the Lord Jesus, by the gospel, and maintains the will of God, will abide forever; while the man that tries to catch the giddy throng with a little show of some human devices, and who may attract their attention for a time, will pass away and be forgotten forever. [36]

We are for progress in the true sense in every department, but not for the progress backward. We are for the progress in the church that goes forward and converts sinners, and builds up churches; that infuses piety, devotion to God and to the right way of the Lord; but not for the progress that is nearly all money, and almost no work. We are for the progress that goes forward and not backward.

“IN what are Christians to be united?”

They are to be united on Christ—on being Christians. This embraces the entire revelation from God to man, all the truth uttered, the commandments given and the promises made by our heavenly Father. The truth must all be believed, the commandments obeyed, and the promises must be hoped for. This includes the entire faith, obedience and hope of the gospel. In this we must be united.

II. “What are the essentials of Christianity which can not be compromised?”

Christianity itself, as a whole and in all its parts, is essential. All that is in it is essential, and all that is not in it is not essential. We are for christianity itself, not in part, but the whole of it, as it came from the infallible Spirit of all wisdom and all [37] revelation. It is all essential. Nothing may be added to it or taken from it. The “doctrines and commandments of men,” the doctrines of “expediency,” of “deductions” and “inferences,” from principles, are not essential; but these are not christianity, nor any part of it. Nothing in christianity can be compromised except at our peril. The wisdom of God gives us no non-essentials. If the wisdom of man pronounces anything given by the wisdom of God, or, which is the same, any part of christianity, non-essential, such wisdom of man must be set aside as presumptuous.

What an idea for men to sit on the grave question of essentials and non-essentials, in the divine institution given by our Lord and confirmed by the most indubitable signs and wonders! What part of that which has been given by the wisdom of God is essential, and what part is not essential? It is all essential, or the wisdom of God would not have given it, and the authority of God would not have required it. The very circumstance that the infinite wisdom devised it and the infinite authority required it makes the whole of christianity binding. There is not a non-essential in it.

III. “How far is diversity to be tolerated?”

We are all required to “speak the same thing,” to “teach no other doctrine,” to “preach the word,” to preach no “other gospel,” to teach the things that become “sound doctrine,” and if we “speak not according to his word it is because there is no light in us.” In one word, we are not to have “all sorts of doctrine from all sorts of teachers,” but to “earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” [38]

IV. “How shall we reconcile the right of private judgment with the right of the Church to maintain the faith in its purity, and still preserve the unity of the faith which the word of God enjoins?”

The way we have done it for fifty years past. We have had the light of private judgment, and, at the same time, maintained the faith in its purity and preserved the unity of the faith as enjoined in Scripture. Demonstration is better than theory. We have brought the people from all parties, united them in the one faith, made them one in the unity of the Spirit, with the exception of a few erratic spirits, but we have not had more of these than they had in the time of the apostles. They and their mission were predicted in Scripture, and they have come and fulfilled the predictions of the Lord and the apostles without intending or knowing it, and thus furnished an additional evidence that the Scriptures are divinely inspired.

THERE are times when general apathy prevails; when it appears impossible to rouse the people to anything like an appreciation of the things of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ; when the hearts of the people appear to be closed against all that can be said or done to save them. They frequently hear at such times, act as [39] orderly as ever, and show as much respect to the gospel; but they do not have the heart and soul in it, and can not be moved to action. Their emotional nature appears to be utterly inaccessible. There are again times when the hearts of the people are open. They not only hear the truth, pay a decent respect to it and admire its beauties, but, with joy, they receive it into good and honest hearts, believe it to be the salvation of their souls. It melts them down, fills their hearts to overflowing and moves them to obedience. This much we know to be fact. We have tried to see the cause of this fact, but do not claim that we can see the cause, nor do we see any particular importance in seeing the cause, but we ought to turn the fact to account. How can this be done?

Paul has a period, or state of things, that he styles “in season,” and another that he styles “out of season.” There is a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to dress the vineyard and a time to gather the fruit. These periods, when the hearts of the people are open, are the harvest times—the time for gathering in the ripe grain ready for the harvest—for turning sinners to the Lord. No matter about the cause of it; there is the opportunity; and we should be ready and go into the harvest and gather precious souls into the fold of Christ. A door is now open and let no man waste his time about the cause of this opening, but while the way is open go up and possess the land. Never mind explaining how the Lord opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended to the words spoken by Paul, nor how the Lord now is opening the hearts of the people; it is enough for the man of God to find that the hearts of the people are open, and that they will attend to the [40] word of the Lord when it is spoken. Go on and speak to them the word of the Lord—the words of everlasting life—turn them to God and save them.

JOHN vi. 48, we find the words of the Lord, “I am the bread of life.” The Lord adds the remark to the Jews, “Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.” It had no power to perpetuate life only for a short time; but he continues, verse 50, “This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.” It will be noticed that his flesh did not come down from heaven, and that bread which came down from heaven is that of which if a man shall eat he shall not die. Then he follows with the remark, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread” (which came down from heaven) “he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Here he uses the flesh, as that which they saw and dealt with in crucifying him metonymically, or a part for the whole. The Jews, however, understood him to mean his flesh literally, and so does the Romish church, and the Jews inquired, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” The Lord did not explain the matter to them, but added, [41] verse 56, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

They were looking at it in the literal sense, and did not see how they could eat his flesh, or how the eating of it could give life. The doctrine of transubstantiation had not yet been born, and the idea of the bread and wine being changed, in the ceremony of consecration, into the real flesh and blood, so that they could eat the flesh and drink his blood in the communion, had not yet entered into the minds of men. Nor did our Lord mean any such thing, but he himself, who came down from heaven, is that bread of life which if a man shall eat he shall never die. But the eating is not literal, any more than the bread is literal or the flesh. We partake of that bread, or of him who came down from heaven by hearing of him, believing on him, and being united with him. In becoming his disciples, learning of him and following him in all things, we eat or partake of that bread, or of him who is the way, and the truth and the life.

He proceeds, “He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” See verse 54. He who believes on him, receives him, follows him, loves him and obeys him, in the sense he intended, eats his flesh and drinks his blood; but not in the communion any more than in the other parts of his teaching, or other appointments. In coming to Christ, and becoming his disciples, we are made partakers of him, of “the divine nature,” and our salvation is in him. “My flesh is food indeed,” says he, “and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I [42] in him.” Following him a little further on, verse 57, he says, “As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead; he who eats this bread shall live forever.” See verse 58. The eating is partaking of Christ, the bread that came down from heaven; this is done by faith, in receiving, following and obeying him; doing his commandments, that we may enter by the gates into the city, and have a right to the tree of life.

MEN may talk of the power of those large combinations, governed by a few leading spirits or one leading spirit as the case may be, where office and not character or ability gives power; but while such an arrangement may create in its adherents a desire for office, to give them influence and authority, they will neglect the purity and excellence of good character and ability, which are the only things which should give any one respect and influence among the people of God. But, in the absence of such character and ability as will give a man influence and power among the followers of Jesus Christ, some may become enraged because we do not form some kind of an organization that [43] will give the desired power by virtue of an office. Such a power as this we hope never to see established in the church of God. If men wish power and influence let them act in such a manner as will be worthy of, and command them; and then they will know how to use, and not abuse them.

Our present organization, little as some men seem to think of it, has maintained a general state of union, and has made a concentrated effort for the conversion of the world, unequalled by any body of people about us. While other religious bodies have been divided and distracted by the frivolous worldly questions of our times, we, as a people, stand firm and unshaken, under the guidance of Him who gave us both a natural and a religious being.

Some one will inquire, what do you plead for? or what do you vindicate? It will be said; it is of no use to be exciting fearful apprehensions, and at the same time setting forth nothing tangible. We will, therefore, make an effort to set out something definite and tangible.

1st. We do not want any general combination, in the form of an Association, Conference, Synod or Council, to govern the churches.

2d. We do not want any such body of men to decide who shall be our ministers, or how they shall be supported.

3d. We do not want any such body of men to decide who shall be our publishers.

4th. Every congregation properly organized, has the right to govern its own members, either in itself, or by calling to its assistance neighboring churches and evangelists. [44]

5th. All letters of commendation, or sentences of condemnation, depend wholly for their authority and influence with those to whom they may be presented, upon the intelligence and moral worth of the body whence they emanated. Hence a minister “whose praise is in all the churches,” and who may be “chosen of the churches,” to perform any certain mission, must have more weight and influence among the people where he goes, than he who is destitute of such commendation.

6th. We want voluntary organizations for missionary purposes, the distribution of bibles, tracts, books, etc., etc., all of which we have a right to form in any way which we may conceive most conducive to the interests of the Redeemer’s cause.

THE Church of Christ was not made for the preachers, but the preachers of Christ were made for the world and the church. The Church of Christ does not belong to the preachers of Christ—it is not their property—but they belong to the church—are its property. The church is not the servant of the preachers, but preachers of Christ are servants of the churches. The Church of Christ is not called and sent by preachers, but preachers are called and sent by the church. [45] Preachers in the kingdom of Christ are no more dignitaries, kings, and priests, than any other members. They are the Lord’s instruments, put forth through the church to do his work, and mighty instruments too, while the Lord is with them, but the poorest, most useless and miserable creatures on this earth when forsaken of God. Or, in other words, when they are doing the Lord’s work, with an eye single to his glory, there are no such instruments for good among men; but when they become selfish, engage simply in their own work, or that which they can turn to their own personal aggrandizement, their usefulness ceases, and they are dead weights upon the cause. Our Lord’s own life is the model of all perfection in human character, both public and private. No community need look for any permanent good from any preacher who does not imitate the character of his Lord and Master. He may be much of a gentleman, very fine, pleasant and interesting to worldly-minded persons, and not do any thing or say any thing that would remind any one of the Savior of the world. But to come under the name of a preacher of Christ, a disciple of Christ, and not be like him, not make men think of him, love him, and desire to come to him, is a deception upon the church and the world.

[46]

IF some of the movements now on foot are to be tolerated, there is no reason for our existence as a body. If we want organs, gorgeous temples, Catharine wheels, clerical orders, superior courts, organizations and numerous societies, aside from the local congregations of the Lord, the Pope can supply any demand for any or all of these. If there are “means of grace,” he is rich in means. He can furnish them an outlet for their overwhelming benevolence in the innumerable channels he has opened. If the great problem is how to reach the pockets of the people and build expensive temples, put up tall spires and chimes of bells, he has solved it. He has swarms of men, and women, too, doing his bidding and under fine pay, living on the fat of the land. He has a system, a plan, an organization, a grand one; the broadest one ever made by man. Here is the opening for men who long for something of that sort. There is no use in mincing the matter, nor in half-way measures. Why not at one bound go right up to the grand culmination of all this kind of progress? There is no use in trudging along behind the Pope, when a man can go to him and be received into his embrace at once.

What a farce for men to be talking of progress, going on to perfection, keeping up with the age, etc., etc., when they are giving up and retrograding from the grandest progress possible to men—the [47] progress up to the ground consecrated by the feet of the apostles and first Christians. Talk of progress when going back to the feeble and exploded schemes of sectarians and patronizing their shallow devices! Progress, indeed, to turn away from the holy gospel, the power of God to salvation, and scheme to catch people and draw them in by the blandishments of fine houses, theatrical, musical shows and clerical pretentions! No, brethren, all this is empty and powerless for good, and yielding up to the influences of hardness of heart, and aiding on that overwhelming avalanche of unbelief now coming upon us. We must stand by our Lord and the simplicity of the gospel, its faith and practice, worship and discipline. We can defend and maintain the gracious system of mercy and grace given by our Lord, in its own native purity, but we can maintain nothing else. There must be no wedge of gold in the camp, no Achan. We must offer no strange fires on God’s altar. The Lord directs our minds and hearts and keep us in the love of Christ. We long to see those who trouble us cease to give pain to the hearts of the friends of the Lord; to learn to be happy themselves and make others happy.

[48]

NO general division can come. The main ground we occupy precludes the idea of any general division. A vain man, or a bad man, may occasionally scatter a flock, tear up a church and ruin it. But, then, such a man will soon find his level and come to nothing, or become surrounded by influences strong enough to control him. There is no machinery of which he can get hold to produce a general division, nor is there any place where an entering-wedge can be introduced to rive us asunder.

No man can depart from the doctrine sufficiently to produce a division, without losing his influence, so that he will have no power to do anything more than lead off an insignificant faction, such as will die out in a short time. Take any one of the elements now annoying us, and tell us how a general division can grow out of it. You will see that it can not be done. Take, for instance, the question about evangelizing and the different methods insisted on, and inquire how we can divide on it. One man is for this plan or that, and goes for it. Another man is not for this plan or that, and goes against it. The one for it, works for it, and the other does not. After a little space the difference will wear out, and they will fall into the same channel and work together. Different schemes will be tried, found inefficient and [49] useless, and be abandoned. After the brethren have time to mature the matter they will come round to the right ground and go on in harmony. Unscriptural things will be discarded, impracticable things will prove failures, and shallow things will be treated with contempt. Men that are unlovely, of bad spirit, spiteful and revengeful, will soon develop themselves to the satisfaction of all. True men—men of faith and love and zeal—will go on and work where the Lord shall open the way for them; not for man, nor to please man, but for the Lord, and to please the Lord, and the work will go on. Men that will not work, that have no work in them, but want large pay, will seek fat places, and get them, if they can, and if they can not, croak about our lack of system, disorder, want of organization and the like, pine away and vanish out of sight.

But may we not have a general division about the organ? Not at all. We have none among us that will exclude us if we will not fellowship the organ. This is all the difficulty there is. Some of us will not worship with the organ nor fellowship it. Will not that divide us? Not at all. Those who would rather have their organ in their worship, than those who will not, and can not worship with it, will have it, and let those who can not worship with it, stay away. Those who can not worship with it will seek some place where they can worship without it, and worship as they know to be according to Scripture. They know this to be safe.

[50]

WE once acted on a committee with several others, heard testimony and arguments for a week, and had the parties bound in writing to abide the decision of the committee. When the decision was made the parties acquiesced in it, shook hands over it, and we prayed over them and were all happy. But in a short time, we do not remember whether a week or a month, the whole matter was thrown aside and the parties stood as they did before. Our prayerful and patient work all went for nothing.

When brethren become alienated they frequently do not want to settle their difficulties, but to get an advantage over an opposing party. No court of appeal nor anything we can say will reconcile them. If we, in any part of the affair, agree with them, they there agree with us; but if we in any part of it differ from them they there differ from us. There the matter ends. Still, we will try and give a little attention to the matters in hand.

There are cases where nothing can be done. In other words, there are cases that can not be settled. Church members become like the man’s rails that had been in a crooked fence so long that they would not make a straight fence. Church-members sometimes have been crooked so long that they will not become straight. They continue in their alienation so long that it becomes a kind of habit with them and food for them. They can not do well without it. [51]

If a church is about equally divided by a difficulty and can not settle the matter among themselves, and will not refer the matter to a committee, it simply can not be settled. A case that can not be settled must remain unsettled. We answer, that in that case nothing can be done. Some cases of difficulty will never be settled in this world, and will have to be referred to the last judgment for adjudication. It would be well, though, in such a case as stated, for the disaffected party to consider the matter well, and see to it that they have acted wisely and in the Spirit of the Lord in the whole matter. On the other hand, the church party should review the whole ground carefully, and see to it that all they can do to open the way for the disaffected party to become reconciled and brought into the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace be done. Let no stone remain unturned, no effort untried and nothing remain undone that might bring peace.

WE have made a standing arrangement for paper this year, of which the present pamphlet is a sample, and we shall do our utmost to have the whole volume printed in a neat and legible manner. As to fine paper, covers, etc., they are like fine clothes only necessary to encase the bodies and souls which will not pass without them. You have, no doubt, [52] seen the preacher wrapped in the finest broadcloth, and a golden chain for a watch-guard, who, after a labored effort for an hour would only prove that he was a human frame, finely clad, but no preacher. In clothing our thoughts in pamphlets, as in clothing our persons, the proper rule should be, to have the apparel just such as not to be noticed at all, and then the thoughts in the pamphlet or the man himself may be seen. Let the attire be neat enough not to be observed for its shabbiness, and plain enough not to be noticed for its fineness, that the person in the attire may be seen. It is true, it is desirable to have a paper printed plain and neat, but all this and fine paper into the bargain will never make it go, if there be not some life, spirit and power in the articles themselves.

Some men seem astonished that their publications do not circulate, seeing that they contain such a display of the most elegant literary taste, not seeming to be aware of the fact, that not one common reader out of fifty ever perceives the mighty effort at all. Yet there can be no objection to fine style. The difficulty in that class to which we refer, is not that they write in fine style, but that there is nothing but the style—neither soul, body, nor spirit.

[53]

IT may seem strange that a human body, weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, would be disturbed by a little thorn in it, not an eighth of an inch long! But, strange as it may appear, it is a fact. And you can not accustom the body to it by piercing the thorn in deeper and deeper, till the body will become easy and comfortable; but you can in that way produce irritation, then inflammation, then mortification, and then death. Death has been produced in this way many times. He is no friend to the body who continues to push the thorn in deeper and deeper, nor is he who would excuse him in so doing, or encourage him in it. There is but one remedy, and that is to remove the thorn. Even if you have to make the wound much larger than it is, the thorn must be removed, or the end will be death.

There are cases in which a thorn might be pierced into the flesh an inch, and produce no pain or irritation; but they are cases where there is no life in the flesh. A thorn pierced into a dead body will produce no pain or irritation. A dead body has no power to resist it, and will make no effort. This is the reason precisely that a thorn produces no irritation or pain when pierced into certain bodies. They are dead bodies. It is no indication that the body is not alive and in healthy condition, to find it resisting foreign matter, and making [54] an effort to remove obstructions; but when it can not do this, the body must die. It can not live and the obstruction remain, at least, only for a short time. But who will permit even a little thorn to remain in his flesh? We care not how little it may be; it is foreign, it is irritating, and, unless removed, will produce death.

It was a little thing for Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. Thomas Paine inquired, “What harm was there in eating an apple?” This is the watchword with all the unlawful things that people desire to do. “What harm is it?” When we worship according to Scripture we never inquire, “What harm is it?” It is not in doubt, and calls out no such inquiry. It is not under any suspicion. To worship according to Scripture is manifestly right. Why should we lag in anything in doubt, under suspicion, and repulsive to any portion of the body, when we have a divinely-prescribed worship held in no doubt?

It was a little thing for Achan to take a Babylonish garment, some silver, and a wedge of gold, and secrete them in his tent; but when he came to confess, it was not a little matter.

He said: “I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel.” On account of this little matter, three thousand men were defeated, and Israel disgraced. “Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.” Here is a fine sample of little matters, and of troubling the people of God with little matters. See Joshua vii. 19–26. [55]

It was a little matter for Uzza to “put forth his hand to hold the ark;” but he fell dead on account of it. See 1 Chron. xiii. 9. He appeared to have been friendly to the ark, sincere, etc., but his touching the ark brought death. What harm was there in touching the ark? It did not injure it. It may be that he saved it from falling. But he violated the law of God. He incurred the anger of God.

What became of them who offered strange fire on God’s altar? See Lev. x.: “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” That was a little matter; only slightly tampering with the worship; simply introducing a new element, which the Lord commanded them not, or did not command them. It is a fearful thing to tamper with the worship.

In one word: “If every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward,” in God’s dealings with men in former ages, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? If God allowed no departures in the typical worship, why should we assume that he will permit it in the worship typified? If everything had to be done according to the patterns given to Moses in the typical dispensation, how can any man infer that we may depart from the substance? We had better take heed now. We may not add any thing, nor take any away from what the Lord gave. We may not preach any other gospel, or even pervert the gospel of Christ.

It was a little matter to charge that Jesus had “an unclean spirit,” but those who did it sinned against the Holy Spirit, and are in danger of “eternal damnation.” [56]

It was a little matter for Ananias and Sapphira to lie about the price of their possessions, but it was soon followed by a judgment from the Lord.

It was a little matter for the Corinthians to get up a feast when they met to worship, but on account of it many were sickly, weakly, and some had died.

Some of the little matters now among us will be found sufficient to stop the ark of God, and cause more than three thousand to be defeated. If Moses were to address some of our men, he would say to them, as he did to Aaron, “What hath this people done to thee that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?” or as Joshua said to Achan: “Why hast thou troubled us? The Lord shall trouble thee this day.” Let us hear and live.

WE are asked to define what we mean by one-idea ism, and explain to us how the universe is made up of atoms. With this request we will cheerfully comply. It is to be carried away with one idea. The idea may be a good one, or it may not; but one-ideaism, is giving an idea undue importance. A man addicted to one-ideaism, can no more cover it than a leopard can change his spots. If he attempts to pray, he will commence with something else as a stepping stone, regularly paving the way and [57] unmistakably making his way to his favorite idea. When it is put forth and he is delivered of it he is relieved for the time being, especially, if he finds that it annoys some one. If you call on him for an exhortation, a sermon, or if he writes, he may wind round and round, trace back and forward, but it will, in spite of himself, in all his efforts to conceal it, be manifest to all, that he takes no interest in all he is saying, only as it subserves his purpose, in paving the way to the one idea, the center around which the whole man revolves, and to which his entire existence is subservient. If that one idea is not dragged in, the man is not relieved, his burden is still upon his soul, and he is in travail waiting to be relieved.

You will see this class of men at meetings, and conventions, both political and religious, without the most distant idea of promoting the objects of the meeting, convention, etc., as the case may be, but with no higher aim than introducing their idea to notice, making the meeting an engine, and men, met under other obligations, and with the ostensible object of the meeting before them, instruments to carry the pet idea on the high road to fame. Sometimes this class of men, because other men have other objects in view, are actually engaged in some good and great work, have not time, will not be annoyed nor turned aside to hear them nor dispute with them; or, if they do, give them but a passing notice—think all the world afraid of them. But they need have no fears on this score. An idea that has not force enough to burst its way forth in the world in defiance of all fogies and conservatives, would die a natural death, if the parent of it could get some one to bring it forth.

[58]

WE have much in the present day on the spiritual care which the divine Father exercises over his creatures in this world. We consider it clear that God has angels who guard, protect, and take care of that portion of the human family which put their trust in him. That the first Christians believed that a good man had an angel, is clear, from Acts xii. 15. When the Apostle Peter was delivered from prison by a miracle, and his voice was heard at the gate, where several disciples were collected, they could not believe it was him, but said, “It is his angel.”

Speaking of his disciples, the Lord said, “In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Mat. xviii. 10. This shows clearly that the disciples of Christ have angels. Paul says, “But to which of the angel said he at any time, sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” The heirs of salvation then have ministering angels, who wait upon them continually, and at the same time behold the face of God in heaven.

Some men seem perplexed to see the use of prayer, unless God operates upon the hearts of christians by an abstract spirit; but if the ever blessed Father keeps ministering angels about them as a mighty wall, and [59] thus guards, protects and preserves them, it would seem to involve the same necessity for prayer, that would be involved if he should do it any other way. Why should it not? With us, we consider ourselves under the same obligations, should God be pleased to preserve us in one way, that we would be, should he do it in another. Not only so, but the man of God ought to have confidence enough in God to believe he will answer any petition asked, according to his will, whether he has told us or not.

WE can not recognize the side institution, nor the officers in it, as neither the one nor the other is known to the oracles of God, or to history for ages after the sacred canon was complete. What is the use to talk of a church of which there is not a trace in the volume of God, nor in anything written for hundreds of years after the apostles? There is not a trace of Romanism, of a pope, cardinal or archbishop in the Bible, except in the prophecies that foretell the apostasy, nor in any other writing of the first three centuries. Nor is there any account of any of the others we have mentioned for a much greater length of time. [60]

We find “the body of Christ,” “the kingdom of God,” and “the Church of God,” spoken of in Scripture. The Lord says, “On this rock I will build my church.” Here is something clear and definite. We can bring this “body” before us, this “kingdom,” or “church,” be members of it, confine our minds and hearts to it; keep it and all its grand interest in view, and not some side structure, imitation or something like it.

The apostles and first evangelists, the overseers and deacons in the first church, were all ministers or servants in the grand work of the “one body,” or “the kingdom,” and not of any side structure. All who are really ministers or servants of Jesus now, are in this “one body,” “kingdom” or “church,” and devoted to its interests and growth, and not to the building up, extending or perpetuation of any side structure, under the pretext that it is like the original or any other, but for the original itself.

All these side structures, names and laws are usurpation, and the true ministers or servants of the kingdom, can but regard them as such, and labor to melt them all away and put all the good material there is in them into “God’s building,” “the temple of God,” and thus make this material useful and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

As to clerical airs, the peculiar cut of the coat, the white necktie, and all other such “outward signs of inward grace,” they are the offspring of shallowness, weakness and folly, and wholly incompatible with the plainness, meekness and humility of Jesus and of good taste and sense.

[61]

ALL the perversions, innovations and corruptions of the pure and holy religion of Jesus Christ that have found way into it and disgraced it, have been introduced under some pretext of doing good—some plea of a supposed benevolent nature. In some form or other they have all claimed to have the good of the cause in view, and in some way have put up some kind of claim to divine authority. Some of them were introduced by good men, with good intentions, who saw not the evil that would follow, while others, no doubt, were introduced by “designing men.” George Fox was probably a good man, or a man of good intentions, and, when he talked of the “light within,” and tried to sustain his position by Scripture, he had no idea of the evil that would follow—much less did he design it. Though he quoted Scripture, it was not as a rule of faith and practice; not as a system of religion, nor as supreme authority, but merely to give currency to the theory he was laboring to introduce and support it in the minds of the people. The leading idea in the new theory was that the light within was the guide—the unerring rule; that it was from God, and that he who followed it was following the will of God, the influence of the Spirit. He certainly did not intend to turn the hearts of the people away from God and lead them to follow the imaginations of their own hearts. He clearly designed no such [62] wickedness as this; but what has followed? Where has the “light within” led his followers? It has led some of them to neglect and forsake the word of God; to regard the Bible simply as a good book, a true history and guide to the people of its time, but not as an authority, a rule of faith and practice for us. It has led some of them into Spiritualism, others into Universalism, and some, more recently, into exciting revival, mourners’ bench-meetings, in which old members have been trying to “get religion,” as seekers do in Methodist and other revivals. Many of them have been led into out-and-out infidelity. This is where the “light within” has led them. Original Quakerism has virtually run out.

Numerous other bewildered people are seeking an evidence of pardon and acceptance with God directly from heaven. They are trying to find this evidence in their feelings, impressions, emotions, impulses, sensations, dreams, some sound or voice, and not in the promise of God. This direct or immediate evidence, in their view of it, is from the Spirit of God and perfectly reliable. The promise of God, with them, is the mere word, the bare word, the mere letter of Scripture. They are thus completely turned aside from the testimony of the Spirit of God, as confirmed by the most grand and awful displays of supernatural power, to their own imaginations, their own spirits, and as completely perverted as if they never had received any revelation from God.

There is no teaching of the Spirit of God among men only that found upon the pages of the Bible. Those led by the teaching of the Spirit of God spread on the pages of the Bible are led by the Spirit of God, but [63] those not led by that teaching are not led by the Spirit of God at all. They may be led by their own spirits, desires, feelings, emotions, impressions, sensations; by men, or even the adversary, “captive at his will;” but they are not led by the Spirit nor under his influence at all. When they turn away from the teaching of the Spirit of God recorded in the Bible, it matters not much to what they turn, whether they profess to be led by the “light of nature,” so called, “the light of reason,” “the light of conscience,” the “light within,” impressions, feelings, emotions, sensations, by men, or the adversary, they turn away from God, from Christ and from the Holy Spirit. They are perfectly deluded, and, if they thus continue, they must come to ruin. God will eventually overthrow all who turn away from him, no matter to what they turn.

Men may claim to have the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit, talk about the Spirit, pray about the Spirit, sing about the Spirit, and at the same time despise the things of the Spirit, the things commanded by the Spirit, and do despite to the work of the Spirit. Such men manifestly have not the Spirit. All their claim to having the Spirit is an empty and idle pretense. They are not led by the Spirit at all, but are led in opposition to all the Spirit ever taught. Those led by the Spirit receive what the Spirit teaches, as found in Scripture, believe it and delight to follow it. It is idle for those who will not do this to be talking about the Spirit, or the influence of the Spirit.

If any man gets an immediate evidence of pardon, it is an evidence that comes not through the Mediator, for what comes through him is not immediate, but through him as a Medium, or Mediator. It is a direct [64] revelation, not through Christ at all, and it is a new revelation. Are men receiving any new revelations now? The Mormons and Spiritualists think they are. Do others think so? We do not believe any new revelations are now being made from God. On this ground we reject all Mormon pretensions, as well as Romish pretensions and those of Spiritualists. Since the apostles died, and those on whom they laid their hands died, not a miracle has been done or a revelation from God been made. Every pretense to miracle or revelation from then till now is an empty and idle pretense—an imposition. Since John, the Apostle, closed the book of Revelation, with the declaration that, if any man shall add to it, the plagues of that book shall be added to him, there is an end of all revelation till time shall be no more.

Through Christ, God made a final revelation, to which nothing is to be added, and from which nothing is to be taken. The will of God is in that concerning man, and if we desire to know the mind of God we must consult that revelation. The restlessness of man is wonderful. He is not willing to be limited even to the revelation God has made, the testimony God has given concerning his Son, and the unfailing promise of God for assurance of acceptance with him. But this is the highest and the only assurance we have or can have, in this world. When God made the promise, that we might have strong consolation, he confirmed it by an oath. We come to God by faith and not by sight; we walk by faith and not by sight; enjoy God, and Christ and the Holy Spirit by faith and not by sight. So we enjoy the remission of sins and [65] acceptance with God by faith and not by sight. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” said the Lord, among the last words he uttered before he ascended to heaven. Men who will not rely on that promise—on the words shall be saved, or shall be pardoned—would not believe though one would rise from the dead. It is not baptism such need; it is faith. They are not fit subjects for baptism. They must remember the condition, “He that believeth.” They can not come to God without faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please him.”

IF it is wiser to obey God than man, if an infallible law is better than a fallible, if a perfect law is better than an imperfect one, if a divine law is better than a human, if the authority of God is better than the authority of man, if the word of the Living God is better than a human creed, if the infallible teachings of inspiration are better than uninspired human creeds, if the teachings of the Holy Spirit of God are a safer guide to heaven than the teachings of erring men, if God should govern in preference to man, we are right, and our opposers wrong, on this transcendent point, and it is our duty to God and our fellow-creatures, that we maintain with manly zeal and fortitude that which is so manifestly and self-evidently the will of God. We never can [66] falter. We have no ground to doubt or fear; but if we shrink or hesitate, it must be manifest indifference. While we hope, then, for the blessing of God upon us, and call upon God for his mercy, let us remember our fealty to him, and maintain our integrity to the day of his coming.

THE Bible contains the true religion, or there is none. There is light in the Bible to save the world, or the world is lost. Our only choice is between the Bible and nothing. Judaism is abolished. Mohammedanism has no claims in internal merit or external evidence. The fruits of all Paganism show that it is evil, and only evil, continually. Infidelity has nothing for the world. While it would take Christianity from us, it has nothing to propose. It is no system—no doctrine—teaches nothing and defends nothing. Its only province is to stand and deny. It finds fault with everything, starts doubts, destroys confidence, fills the world with fears, and spreads an eternal gloom over the prospects and hopes of all nations. Reason and the light of nature have been tried longer and more effectually than any system in the world. At least four thousand years have the pagan nations been trying what they could do for our race without a revelation from God. In all the experiments yet [67] made, with no guide but reason and the light of nature, the tendency has been downward. Deterioration has been the universal result, without the light of the Bible. We then, cling to the Bible, and the religion it reveals, as the only hope of the world. If it fails, all must fail, and all must be lost. But it is folly of the most stupid order to speak of the Bible failing. Its Author is emphatically the friend of man. Its holy lessons are all for our good. All who have been led by it, are thankful they ever knew it. It has never deceived one or misled one. No one has ever lamented being led by it. The more solemn and affecting the circumstances around us, and the greater the trials in which we are placed, the more comforting and precious are its holy consolations to the soul. It encourages all that is good; discourages and condemns all that is evil. It is our guide and comfort through the journey of life; nor does it fail when we are sinking in death. No one who believed it before, in a dying hour denies and repudiates the Bible. But many determined infidels have recanted and repudiated their infidelity when sinking into the eternal state. That which they talked in health, that which dwelt upon their tongues in their mad career through life, they themselves condemned, in the most awful and solemn moments of life, and with their dying lips repudiated. How shameful and preposterous, that a man should live such a life of folly and inconsistency as to be compelled in his dying moments to condemn all his past life, with all the sentiments he had cherished and inculcated, and warn all men against them!

[68]

THE question is not whether men will receive us, our doctrines, our views, our church, or “the Reformation,” or “Reformation doctrines” but whether they will receive him whom the Father hath sent, love him, follow him, place themselves under him, obey him, and trust in him forever. He is the center of all union, all love, and all piety. Upon him, all who love him, have received him and desire to follow him, being led by his voice, may unite. Having received him, been identified with him, as a matter of course, we receive all who have been received by him, are united with and love them, as members of the same family. When we speak of union, the question is not about receiving men, nor their views, but whether we can agree upon a leader, head, lawgiver or king. Jesus is the true Light that enlightens every man that comes into the world. He is the only divinely authorized head, lawgiver and leader. The question we have to urge upon men, is whether they will come under him. If they will, they should proceed, like young Saul, to ascertain of him, what he requires of them, before they can be received, pardoned and saved by him. When they learn this of him, and come to him, in the way he has appointed, or by doing what he requires, they are received by him, united with him and with all that belong to [69] him, and, as long as they continue to love and obey him, no adverse power can separate them from him. He is our rock, the rock of our salvation—the foundation which God has laid—for union in “one new man,” or one new church, one “building of God,” one “house of God,” in which dwells the “one spirit,” given by the “one Lord.”

Here upon the one rock—one foundation, which is Christ—in the one building or temple, in Christ, where all spiritual blessings are found, all the good, the pure and holy, may strike hands, unite, live in holy fellowship, while they continue in this world of sorrow and affliction, and after, be received up into glory, to dwell with their Lord and the holy society of the redeemed forever. Brethren, look at the vast numbers we have gathered into the one fold, and take fresh courage, and let us enter upon the work with spirit and might for another year.

THE men who are meditating on union are now on trial, being put to the test, and will be compelled to show where they stand. Those who love union among christians more than denominationalism will sacrifice the denomination for union, but those who love denominationalism more than union will sacrifice union for the denomination. The union of the people of God is from heaven; the denomination is from man. The denomination is the party, sect, faction. The body of Christ, or [70] kingdom of God, is no sect, party or denomination. It is as broad as the dominion of King Jesus. It is above all sects, parties and denominations. The man that rises so as to grasp the kingdom of God in his mind, ascends far above all sects, parties and denominations; up to the throne and Him who sits on the throne; to the Supreme Majesty of heaven and earth. He loves the King above all kings and potentates, and loves the kingdom of God above all the kingdoms and empires of the world, and supremely above all parties, sects or denominations. We love no denomination, nor denominationalism, but love the people involved in the denomination; and while we desire to see the denomination literally abolished, wiped out, we desire to save the kingdom of God, the union of the people of God, and the people themselves. This can be done if the people will have it so. But if they love the sect, party or denomination more than the Church of God, or the body of Christ, they will keep an eye to the sect, party or denomination; to their little side institutions of human device; every one of which originated with men, and without one scrap of divine authority; instead of rising to the grand and glorious institution ordained of God, with the Lord for its head, and the law of God for the rule of its faith and practice.

[71]

THERE can be no apology for a man who knows what the truth is, what the doctrine of Christ is, what christianity is, who will use it merely as a proof to sustain, prove, and impose something else upon himself and others, for he might just as easily have received the truth, the doctrine of Christ, christianity itself, enjoyed it, and been saved by it, as to have trifled with it, in trying to prove something else by it. But if a man does not know what the truth is, the doctrine of Christ, christianity is, and adopts something else, he is simply guessing at it, and is not to be relied upon. He has no foundation.

We are as well convinced, as we are that there is a glorious heaven for the righteous, and a hell for the wicked, that no man now living, who knows what the Lord’s truth is, what the gospel of Christ is, what christianity is, and what the Bible is, and has appealed to it to sustain something else, and now continues so to appeal to it, could, if his life were at stake, give a good reason why he did not receive the truth itself, the gospel, christianity, the Bible itself, rely upon it as his only hope for life, his only guide, as the only divine system, the only divine institution, in the place of perverting its glorious influence and power to sustain and prop up something else. And we are equally certain, that no man can answer to God, when the actions of all [72] men shall be spread out in the last judgment, for such a course. If christianity is a system, if it is a divine institution, if it is the religion of Jesus Christ, if it is from God, and now binding upon the human family, as almost all the religious parties of these times admit, and as can not be denied, the sin of departing from it is great enough; but to have the assurance to try to make it sanction any other system, to testify in support of any other, to try to divert its influence, power, and authority from its own work, to sustain and prop up some human system not mentioned in it, when it has expressly, under the most fearful and awful penalty, forbidden any perversion, addition, or subtraction, is a species of daring and aggression upon the institution of heaven and government of God, such as one would suppose no believer in the Bible would risk. Still it is done—almost daily done, in the pulpits all over the land; and those who will not do it, who condemn it, who receive the Bible, christianity, the gospel, the religion of Jesus Christ, all that God has revealed to man—all that has the name of God upon it, keep it distinct from every thing else, and will have nothing more, are opposed everywhere, sneered at and branded as heretics. Be it so. We look not to man for reward. We look not to sectarian parties to honor God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible, christianity, or the gospel. We do not expect them, as parties, to come to the Bible, unless to draw support for their own schemes. But we regard not this; we know we are right; and it is not the great number that will stand, but those who are right. “Truth is mighty above all things, and will prevail.” Brethren, push on the war, on this great question. The Bible will prevail in the end. Its enemies will all fail.

[73]

THE pioneer men in this country felled the trees, cleared away the forests, built their houses and barns, and made a living. Many of their sons can not make a living with the farm and all the balance fitted to their hand. In the same way, the first preachers went out at their own expense, turned the people to God and built up churches, and now the preachers, with their fine salaries, houses in which to meet, and everything prepared to hand, are not accomplishing as much, in proportion to their number and ability. Why is this? Is it because they can not? Not at all. It is because they are not as devoted. They are not as enterprising. They are not as industrious. They are not as self-sacrificing.

Those old preachers needed no “innocent amusements,” “innocent games,” “healthful exercises,” “pastime,” “social dance,” “croquet,” etc., etc. They knew nothing of torpid liver, indigestion, nervous prostration, etc., etc. Those afflictions were left for a later class. They obtained plenty of healthful exercise in clearing off, breaking and cultivating their new land, in their long rides on horseback, or trips on foot, and faithfully preaching, and the Lord blessed them. The results of their labor and sacrifices are seen all over this country. They looked after the children of God and cared for them; not with [74] this new kind of care for money; not only the money of the living, but arranging to get the money of the dead; but they cared for men; watched for their souls, as those who shall give an account.

We do not want to say one word in this connection, nor any other, that shall be the means of cutting off one penny of support received by any good preacher who is faithfully doing the work of an evangelist, but would add to the support of many such men whose support is inadequate; and as to mercenary and avaricious men in the ministry, and we trust there are but few of them, we have learned better than to waste our ink on them. We are writing for the good of the cause, and we rejoice to believe that we have the men, an extended body of them, able ministers of the gospel, who are devoted to the work, and willing to do anything in their power to advance the cause. These are reading, studying, and ready to listen to anything that will advance the cause. To these men we must look, and on them, as the agents under God, we must depend; we must encourage their hearts, strengthen their hands and give them support. To these men we appeal and entreat them, in view of all that is dear to humanity; in view of the suffering Savior, and lost man; in view of their own children and the children of others, as well as the good of the world at large, to go into the field with a determination to preach the gospel of the grace of God; go everywhere, in the name of the Lord, where the people will listen to a discourse concerning Jesus and the resurrection, and preach the unsearchable riches of Christ; make all men see and turn them to God. Do not wait for a call, but go; do not wait for some certain promise of support, but trust to the [75] promises of God; go in faith; trust in God; sow the good seed of the kingdom, the word of God, that it may fall into good and honest hearts and bring forth much fruit. Put in every sermon possible; preach to every one who will hear; preach because you love God and man, and desire to save man from ruin, and because you love to preach; because the Lord commands it, and the God of peace will be with you, care and provide for you.

WE heard of a man who had heard Universalists occasionally, and gave them something when they were making contributions for their preachers. A preacher, who made one of his finest efforts to prove that all will be saved, inquired of him how he liked his argument. The man replied, “I did not like it at all.” The preacher, disappointed, said: “You believe our doctrine?” The man replied: “I do; but you tried to prove it by the Bible, and all intelligent people know that the Bible is against us from one side to the other. The way I prove it is this: I deny the Bible, and then prove it by reason.” This is certainly the more rational way. We care not who he is, nor where he comes from, nor what his attainments may be; but the man who attempts to prove Universalism by the Bible opposes the common sense of mankind and the [76] clearest language ever written. The man who rejects the Bible out and out, and is wandering in the darkness of unbelief, in the vagaries of those who reject the wisdom of God, might, in his philosophical speculations, try to show that all men would be saved, with at least some show of plausibility possibly; but there is not only no plausibility in anything that can be adduced from the Bible to show that all men will be saved, but clear statements of the Bible can not be true and all men be saved. It cannot be true that those “who believe not the Son shall not see life,” and that all men shall be saved. It can not be true, as stated in Scripture, that “these” (the wicked) “shall go away into everlasting punishment,” and all men be saved.

The man who affirms that those who die in their sins shall be wholly and happy in heaven contradicts the clearest utterances of Scripture. When time shall end and God shall exclaim, “He that is filthy, let him be filthy still,” there will be no more repentance; yet some will be filthy—unsound.

Universalism had its day in this country; has run its course and is going by. There is not one-tenth as much of it in this country as there was thirty years ago. There is no argument of consequence about it any more. The only thing wanting to show what it is, will appear anywhere when they undertake to form churches, keep up Sunday-schools, keep up prayer-meetings, meet regularly on the first day of the week and worship. Let them undertake to enforce the clear requirements of Scripture on their people, and they will soon get a lesson. They will soon explain that all will be saved, and they will find that they will have no use for baptism, the Lord’s Supper, prayer-meetings, nor any regular worship. [77]

It will not do to read, “He who believes not shall be saved;” “He who believes not the Son shall see life;” “The wrath of God shall not abide on him;” “If you believe not that I am he, you shall not die in your sins;” “Where I am you shall come;” “These” (the wicked) “shall not go away into everlasting punishment;” “The beast and the false prophets shall not be tormented day and night forever and ever;” “He who shall sin against the Holy Spirit shall not be in danger of eternal damnation,” etc., etc. The man who denies his Bible first, and then starts out to prove that all will be saved from some other source, is a much more sensible man than the man that undertakes to prove it from the Bible. Whatever the Bible may mean besides, it does not mean Universalism. The man who holds and undertakes to prove Universalism has no use for a Bible, unless it be to show his skill in getting round the clearest things ever written.

THE brethren know that men cannot devote their lives to the work of evangelizing without support, and they will give the support, and do it much more freely where they can see the work done, than where they can see no work done. The preachers in the field doing the work are receiving the main support given, and ought to receive it. The men not in the field, and that will not go into the field, ought not to receive the support. The brethren are not in the way of sending it to them. [78]

We hope the preachers generally will see what is being done by those in the work, go out and participate in the heavenly work, that they, too, when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, may have a crown of glory that fades not away. How can men with the love of God in them see their fellow-creatures perishing, and not be inspired with a zeal to go forth and gather them into the kingdom of God? Look at the tremendous cloud of darkness over the minds of the people, and then inquire can a man who has the light be excusable unless he uses the means the Lord has put in his power for the enlightenment of the world. No, we can not be excusable; the love of Christ constrains us; the value of the souls of men urges, and the example of all the ancient worthies impels us to go into the great harvest and help to reap it down.

THE following purports to be taken from one of Moody’s sermons, and is reported in the Baptist Union:

If I thought that baptism was God’s way of saving men, I’d give up preaching, borrow a pail and go round the streets baptizing every one I met, and if they wouldn’t let me do it, I’d catch them asleep and baptize any way. He says, “Ye must be born again.” [79]

It is a wonderful humiliation to be compelled to admit that this undignified, irreverent and reckless language is from the lips of a man probably at this time attracting as much attention as any man in the world, as a preacher, or it may be more. It is mortifying in a high degree to be convinced that the state of the public mind is such that a man like this is caressed, lauded and admired by the multitude.

It is no small work to enlighten the people of the world. We have gained the right of private judgment, private interpretation of the Scriptures, the liberty of speech and of the press; and we have the Bible, translated into our own language, in almost every house; and we have our system of free schools and universal education. But still there is a premium for ignorance.

Moody with his commonplace talks, and Sankey with his songs, call out greater crowds and have more admirers than the most profound Bible instructor in the world. What reverence has he for the Lord, who ordained baptism and submitted to it himself, “was baptized of John in Jordan,” after saying, “Thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness,” and over whom the heavens parted as he rose from his baptism, and on whom the Spirit descended, and to whom the Almighty Father said, “Thou art my Son, the beloved in whom I am well pleased?” What appreciation has he, or what respect for our Lord’s commission, in which he has the preaching of the gospel, the belief of it, the repentance, the baptism and salvation all connected together, when he talks of giving up preaching and borrowing a pail and going round the streets baptizing every one he met? What does he know or care about [80] what baptism is? He may find the untaught multitudes who will gaze at him and admire such irreverent manifestations of ignorance, want of piety and dignity, mingled with such low slang as we find in the language quoted above, and he may find plenty of thoughtless people who will be pleased with such unworthy flings at things which he does not understand, and which he perverts and misapplies. But there are many people in this country who can not be gulled in any such style. Low slang is not preaching Jesus nor his gospel, nor is misrepresentation or perverting Scripture preaching Jesus.

If he has our Lord’s commission, and ever reads it, he knows or ought to know, that the same commission has in it the preaching of the gospel, the believing, repenting, baptism and salvation. The preaching, believing, repentance, baptism and salvation all go together; and if he has intelligence enough to preach at all acceptably to the Lord, he knows that no people in this country think that baptizing is of any value, without being preceded by the preaching of the gospel and the faith, unless among those who profess to baptize infants. They did not understand him to make this fling at them, or they would soon have depleted his audience.

Moody and Sankey have the clear Scriptures before them, giving an account of inquiring persons coming to the apostles inquiring the way of salvation, and the plain answers giving the apostolic way, and they ignore these instructions—keep them out of sight. They have the answers of the apostles showing them the way, and they have refused to even read these Scriptures, or to let the people know what the way was, [81] as set forth by the apostles. For this they will give an account. They ignored it, evaded it, and avoided it. They neither enter the kingdom themselves nor will they permit those who would enter.

Before we lay down our pen, we must refer Moody and Sankey, with some others, to a lesson Paul once taught a man, in view of a transaction no worse than the uttering the words quoted from Moody, at the beginning of this article. The man with whom Paul dealt, was simply trying to turn the deputy away from the faith. The deputy was by name, Sergius Paulus. When he did this, Saul (who is called Paul) filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him, and said, “O full of all subtlety and all mischief, you child of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some one to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord”. Acts xiii. 9–12.

It is a most fearful thing to pervert the right ways of the Lord—to try to turn any one away from the faith, or to put asunder that which God has joined together, and which he forbids man to put asunder.

In the last commission, the only authority for all gospel preaching, the Lord has joined together, preaching the gospel, believing the gospel, repentance, baptism and salvation, or pardon of sins, and no man can part these asunder, except at the peril of his soul. Is it possible that any man can fail to see that no man can be, in the true sense, a preacher of Jesus and ignore any part of this commission, or any part of the way of salvation, as set forth by the apostles under this commission?

[82]

IN the same way, insipid preaching about sweet birds and sweet flowers, plants and stars, etc., etc., appears to have streaks of light in it, but after it is over, the darkness appears greater than before. No gospel light is shed forth, no truth of weight and importance in the salvation of man brought forth or enforced; no obedience is enjoined and no hope is inspired. No Felix trembles. Nothing is said about the preaching, unless it be that “it was splendid,” and “I do love to hear him so much;” “It was very fine,” etc. But, put the question, What did you learn? and silence would reign. This kind of thing may please people who do not intend to hear the gospel, or who, in the language of Scripture, “Turn away their ears from the truth;” but we must have something different from this, something more tangible, intelligible and impressive to save men. We must have something more than mere vaporing.

We must have “first principles,” as they are now styling the gospel, and have them in profusion. We must have them for the instruction of the vast numbers who have been brought in without understanding them, [83] and who must understand them before they can be intelligent christians, and we must have them for the multitudes who have never been brought to God. Somehow, from some source, we have a few among us who are styling the gospel “first principles,” and then insist that we must leave the first principles. Those who are in the world must be converted, brought to God, and to this end they must have the gospel, no matter if men and the adversary do call it “first principles.” The right way for those who have never begun, is to begin, and there is no right way to begin only to begin at the beginning, no matter if sectarian faces do scowl, or some worldly member of the church grumble. We must walk into the gospel, not as if we were afraid some one would hit us in the face, but “in full assurance of faith,” under a sense of the truth of the gospel, and the conviction that it is good enough for anybody, and that no excuse need be made for preaching it; the certainty that men must hear the gospel and learn the way to God before they start at all. We must show the people that the Bible contains a revelation from God, the only revelation from God; that it is complete, perfect and final, so far as relates to time; that Jesus is divine; that he is all that he is represented to be in the Bible; that he is sustained by all the testimony necessary to convince candid people; that no man comes to the Father but by him; that no man comes by Moses now or any other; that the Lord Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; that the way set forth by him is the only way to the Father. [84]

We must not preach about faith, or repentance, or baptism; but preach the truth concerning the Lord Jesus, the Christ, which, when heard, and received into good and honest hearts, produces faith that leads to repentance, and immersion. Preaching faith never made a believer, and preaching repentance, never leads to repentance, of itself. In the same way, preaching on baptism, of itself never led any man to baptism. The great truth of all truth, that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,” lies at the bottom and puts all the balance in motion. Jesus, the Anointed, full of grace and truth, is the supreme authority. The first thing, first in order and first in importance, is the work of bringing the Lord before men and preparing them to regard him; to recognize his authority and become willing to follow him—be led by him. Till this is done, it is useless to tell men what he says, or what he commands. Men must be convinced that he has authority to command, and that they are bound to submit to him or be rejected by him forever.

In presenting the claims of the Lord Messiah, we must clear the way of all rubbish, all written and unwritten traditions of men, all doctrines and commandments of men, all rule and authority lording it over the heritage of God; all creeds and councils of men, all religious bodies and establishments having no divine authority; all usurpations and encroachments on the prerogatives of the Lord Jesus; all religious names and titles, forms and ceremonies, having no precept or example in Scripture; all sects and sectarianism—all these must be swept away; and the supreme and absolute authority of the Lord restored. The law of [85] God itself, as found on the pages of the inspired Scriptures, must be restored to the people of God. There must be no compromise of truth with error, the kingdom of God with any thing else, the law of God with any other law. The law of God must be maintained as the law, the supreme and absolute law, and all other religious law must be set aside as law and repudiated. The union of the people of God must be maintained, defended and continually advocated, as right in itself and divinely required.

As a religious body, the work we have undertaken has not changed, but is the same now as it was forty years ago, as manifestly right as ever. We have undertaken to restore the gospel to the people; the ancient order of things; the religion of Christ itself, as it came from the Lord. We have gone up to primitive ground, apostolic ground, where the first followers of the Lord stood, and aim to practice in all things, as they did; have all things as they did; have all things as they had—the faith, the practice, and the worship, without anything added or taken away. The Lord has blessed the undertaking with most wonderful success. From five to six hundred thousand have heard, believed and been called together, and united on apostolic ground—made unspeakably happy in the Lord. We have been made free, in the highest sense, from all the trammels and fetters of men, from sins, from all error and superstition, and are servants of the Lord.

We have now a plain work—simply the work of the Lord and no other. We have nothing to preach but the gospel, nothing to believe but the truth of God, nothing to do but the will of God, and nothing to hope for only [86] what is promised in the word of God. Our work is not new and untried, but old, well tried, and nothing can stand before us. We have truth and righteousness to maintain—sin and the world to oppose. We can make no change only at our peril—no departure without losing all. We started simply to be the people of God, and to give ourselves unreservedly to the Lord. We can not turn away from God, from Christ, from the gospel, from the law of God, from the Church of God and the people of God, without utter ruin. We can not turn away from the religion of Christ itself and not be lost. We have nothing else. Shall we, then, hold on to our God, to our Lord Jesus the Christ, to our Bible, the gospel and the law of God for the saints? Shall we hold on to the entire revelation from God to man in all its parts and as a whole? Most unequivocally the great masses among us intend, by the grace of God, to do this.

We need not stop to count members, to see whether it will be popular or unpopular, whether a majority are going on, or going back. Every true man is going on, and is intending to stand with every other true man and fight the good fight of faith. We stop not to see how many or how few are going ahead, nor how many are turning back. We would rather have been saved with the few in the ark than lost with the many who were drowned in the flood; to have been with the few who crossed Jordan than with the many who fell in the wilderness, and would rather be with the few that shall find the narrow way and pass the straight gate to the enjoyment of life, than to be with the many who tread the broad way that leads to destruction. We are now making the [87] record on which these great matters will turn. Let us enter the field this year in the faith, with more determination than ever, and push the cause at every point; stand up all along the lines of the King’s army, every man in his place, presenting an unbroken front to the enemy, and unitedly move forward on the opposing ranks before us with a persistence, decision and determination that will command respect. Encourage the true and valiant, strengthen the weak and feeble-minded, stand by the faint-hearted and comfort them. Let there be no sympathizers with the enemy, none scheming mutiny, none demoralizing the forces, no deserters and no cowards. All stand firm and true, and move on in faith, “the full assurance of faith,” with power and courage, and the Lord of hosts will be our Lord—the King of saints will be our King. Let all men see that we have a right cause, and that we know it is right, and that we never intend to give it up, but that we intend to fill the world with the doctrine of the cross, make the Bible the power in this country. It is the book, the one book, the only book, setting forth the one religion for all peoples on all the face of the earth, and for all time. We can admit no rival to that book, nor any other that subverts or sets it aside, but are the settled and determined enemies to all others as divine authority. It is the supreme and the absolute authority. Rally to the book, men of God, and stand by it. You have the book that all admit to be right. Be true to it and show yourselves worthy of it, and the God of peace will be with you.

[88]

IT will not do to conclude that we are not a “missionary people.” It is useless to reason against facts. That we have risen, and, in opposition to the established bodies of people in the different parties in this country, successfully planted the cause in the best parts of the country and among the most effective and intelligent people, and, in less than two-thirds of a century, made it one of the most formidable and powerful bodies in the land, and swelled the numbers above that of any Protestant parties in the United States, excepting the Baptists and Methodists, is now a matter of fact. This has been done and is now in history. A people “not a missionary people,” and not an evangelizing people, have never done the like of this. We are to-day going ahead and spreading more rapidly than any people in this country that depend on turning people to the Lord to augment their numbers. We say nothing about a people that count their infants as members of the church, and exclude nobody for disorder.

[89]

THE resurrection of Lazarus was like the healing of the sick, giving sight to the blind, and other miraculous benefits, only temporary. They were only restored to health in their mortal state, and liable to be afflicted again. The resurrection of Lazarus was only his recovery from death for the time being, and he was liable to die again. No doubt he did die again. But Jesus rose to die no more. Death has no more dominion over him. Those thus raised up temporarily, or simply raised up to what they were before they died, were not counted where Christ is spoken of as “the first-fruits of them that slept,” “the first-born from the dead,” etc. They were raised to immortality and died no more. The body was sown a mortal body, but raised immortal, or raised to die no more.

This, we presume, is the solution of the matter, though but little can be said, with any point, for or against it. It is, however, the ground on which we satisfy our own mind. It is one of the matters left a little obscure, and but one on which nothing of importance depends. The view we take of it obviates any apparent discrepancy between the passages above referred to. The word “begotten,” in “the first-begotten from the dead,” should have been born, as the same original word is elsewhere. A bare resurrection only raised a man to what he was before he died, and left him as liable to death as he was before he died; but [90] the resurrection of Christ and those who rose after he rose was more than this. The body was sown a mortal body, but raised immortal, or to die no more. It was a complete and final deliverance from the grave and from death—the final triumph over death and him who has the power of death.

A PREACHER pays a poor compliment to his brain when he tries to attract public attention, as a preacher, with fine clothes. A dancing master can vie with him in that line, whether the fine clothes are paid for or not. In the same way the preacher that must have a gorgeous temple, like Romanists and pagans, to attract the people and draw them out, and his choir of singers and organ, to discourse music for the saints, pays a poor compliment to his brain and his ability as a preacher, and a poorer compliment to the worshippers who have to be thus drawn out. It is virtually a surrender to the world, and an acknowledgement on the part of the preacher, that he has no confidence in the gospel, or his ability to preach to attract the attention of the people, draw them out, or turn them to God when they are drawn out. The church that resorts to such artifices to draw the people out, virtually acknowledges that she has no influence to draw the people out; that [91] the preacher has no influence to draw them out; that their gospel and worship have no power to draw them out; but they have found out what will draw them out. A fine temple of show, extravagance and folly; a popular choir, an organ, ice cream, strawberry festivals, musical concerts, church fairs, etc., etc. These will draw. Certainly they will. But what becomes of the preacher, the gospel, the worship and the church? What becomes of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and all that is divine?

Christ had not “where to lay his head.” What does that prove? Not that his followers should not have where to lay their heads, or that preachers should not; but, if following him and serving him should reduce them to such destitution that they would not have where to lay their heads, they should bear it patiently and not murmur, remembering that their Lord and Master had not where to lay his head.

“Christ traveled on foot and preached.” What does that prove—that preachers must always travel on foot? Not at all. The Lord did not always travel on foot. What then? That a preacher should travel on foot if need be. We have traveled on foot to preach and would do it again before we would give up preaching. We, therefore, take the cars, steamboat, stage, private conveyance, any means most convenient.

[92]

BUT, now, why this constant higgling over immersion? Why this continual getting up some kind of smoke about it, mist or confusion? It is the right thing—the precise thing the Lord commanded. Why, then, try to get up confusion about where it was obtained? Why not condemn faith because we did not obtain it from the right people? It is the right thing, but then a man obtained it in a sectarian church. Ought he not to throw it aside, and obtain faith from the right source? Then, where did a man get the gospel? Did he get it in a sectarian church? Must he therefore throw it aside? Where did he get his Bible? Must he throw it away because he got it from sectarians. There is but one safe rule in all this, and that is to hold on to that which came from the Lord, the right things, no matter where we found them.

We have not set out merely to see how radical we can be; to see how far we can differ from all men, but to separate the human from the divine—that which did not come from God from that which did; and when we find a man with the right book—the Bible—we accept it without inquiring where he obtained it. When we find a man with the gospel of Christ, we accept it, no matter where he obtained it. If he has the right repentance we accept it without any regard to where he obtained it. In the same way in regard to the immersion and everything else. Has he the right things—the things of God? [93]

Why start these subtleties about immersion, and confuse the public mind in regard to it? Why not get up difficulties about the prayers, the communion, the repentance, the faith, or something else? We are not trying how many difficulties we can find, but trying to clear the way, and show all men that there is a safe and practical way to union, to oneness and happiness, both here and hereafter. We desire to emerge out of the darkness, confusion and misunderstandings of our times, and walk in the clear light of heaven. Whatever is right we accept, and whatever is not right we aim to set it right. That which has gone before our time is beyond our reach, and we leave that to the Judge of all the earth, who will do right. We desire to open the way for the living and those yet to come. Let us study the things that are practical and that work for peace, and the Lord will open our way to the highest usefulness and happiness in this life, and to all he has for the redeemed in the life to come.

[94]

THE community of goods or common stock was a voluntary thing and not required, as is clear from the language of Peter to Ananias and Sapphira. Alluding to the possession he sold and the proceeds of the sale he said: “While it remained was it not thine own? and after it was sold was it not in thine own power?” Acts v. 4. There was no compulsion to do what he pretended he was doing—that is, giving the whole—no law requiring it. This case appears to have ended the whole affair. We find no more account of it, but clear allusions to liberality, to the rich and poor, etc., showing that it was not continued. There is no question but that some of the first Christians received the impression that the coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead and the end of the world were at hand; and the unbounded love of the gospel inspired in their hearts for God and man led them to regard their possessions as nothing. They did not believe they would need them, nor did they see the state of things that would result from their course.

Not only so, but there may have been a providence in it, as their city was soon to be destroyed and they “led away captive among all nations.” The main thing we need is the fact that it is not required of us. It ended at once and was not enjoined nor continued.

[95]

WE can not conceive how people could be more completely deluded, than to be so turned away from the promise of God, than when the Lord says, “He who believes and is immersed shall be saved,” he can not rely on the words, “shall be saved,” but can rely on an uncertain class of feelings reached in an exciting meeting without a promise of the Lord. The apostle commands inquirers, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Here is a sure promise from God: “You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” These people can not or will not rely on this promise, but will rely on a peculiar state of feelings without one shadow of evidence that the feelings are from the Lord, or intended to assure any of pardon.

Members of the church should read their Bibles in their families and to their children, and worship with them, and teach them what worship means, and if they do not do it they will be held responsible in the great day. We must never stop but cry aloud and spare not, till this ignorance is out of the land. We exhort brethren, no matter where they may be scattered, to read the Bible, explain it to your neighbor, and be not poor, helpless creatures waiting for somebody to send you a preacher, but go at it and read the Scriptures, and show your neighbor [96] how to read them, and where to read, to learn the way of salvation. Circulate other reading calculated to show them the good and right way. Be alive and awake to the work—read about it, pray over it, and do all in your power to counteract ignorance and superstition.

IT is true, also, that “God’s word, as the only rule of faith and practice, is as much set at naught by the religious world to-day as it was fifty years ago,” and more too; and there is nothing so unpopular with the masses of the people, and some called brethren, as precisely the apostolic way; and the Reformation is not a failure either. Our reformatory movement was right, and is still right. It needs no modification, but needs to be faithfully and honestly carried out. No reformatory movement can ever get in ahead of it. It went back to the divine fountain to find the truth, and not something like it, that could be proved by it. It went back to the Bible itself, and not to something like it, or something that can be proved by it. It went back to the religion of Christ itself, and not to something like it, or something that can be proved by it. This was no failure. The attempt was to go back to the Lord himself; to his own Book, his own religion; and those who attempted this, and did it, made no failure. [97] They found the Lord, his Book, and his religion, and found the salvation of the Lord. There was no failure in all this. This movement has been in the world about sixty years, or about half as long as Noah’s mission lasted. Noah found the salvation of the Lord for himself and family. There was no failure in his case.

WE are for the kingdom of God, and for all that pertains to it, but not for the kingdom of the clergy, either as manifested in the Papacy or among Protestants; nor are we enlisted to get up a new kingdom of clergy. We will never give our influence to establish any new kingdom of clergy, or recognize any old one. The people of God are free. They do not belong to the clergy. The congregations of the Lord are free, and not to be manacled down into human confederations and their great work ended in an insignificant sect. The day we agree to be banded together into some kind of general confederation of congregations, under a conference, convention, or we care not what you call it, we become an insignificant sect, a denomination, a christian sect, and will be nothing more forever. Ichabod will be written on us. But that day will never come. Mark that. We hope that none among us will ever make the experiment, but if they do, they will simply land in faction, to dwindle away and die. [98]

But, we have come to a crisis, and, it is predicted, we will soon come to nothing if we do not do something. We intend to do something and are doing something, but not forming ecclesiastical confederations to bind burdens on the necks of the people, nor scheming to get clerical power. We have come to no crisis. The few scheming men that have so fully demonstrated their aim, have come to a crisis and to a complete defeat. But that will not produce any perceptible jar in the movements of the hosts of Israel. That is a mere circumstance. The Lord’s hosts are in motion and the work is going on. Why stand with a human figment in view, when we have stupendous matters of fact before our eyes? Look into the columns of our publications and see the reports that come up every week from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, and from the North of the Dominion of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and tell us what of the crisis? The men in the field at work have come to no crisis and to no panic. The Lord of hosts is with them, and they are not to be turned aside from their work.

Read the accounts of churches established every week, the houses for worship built, the preachers coming over from the ranks of Babylon, as well as private members, and the vast acquisition to their numbers from the world, and then tell us what of the crisis! Go into the field and go to work, every man, in faith and hope and love, and win souls to Christ, and the Lord of hosts will be with you, and good brethren will [99] come up to the help of the Lord and support you. But if we continue the schemes that are now confessedly failures, or devise new ones, we will dry up the fountains of liberality till we can do nothing. The children of God will give money to convert and save sinners, but they will not give money to build up a hierarchy.

WE are not inattentive to the suggestion that we are wearing ourselves out in holding protracted meetings, and that we should devote ourself wholly to the management of the Review. We have thought of this matter much, both before and since we saw the suggestion, and find it not so easy to determine what ought to be done. The tendency is to find pleasant positions, occupy them, and go on easily and smoothly; to settle down and preach for churches, get professorships in colleges or high-schools, edit papers and evangelize the world by proxy. In other words, the popular idea is not to go but to send some one to preach the gospel. If we were to sit down in our editorial chair, at home, and write the most stirring articles about the great work of evangelizing the world and urge men to go, we fear they would inquire, “Why do you not go?” We aim to be an example—to go ourself, as we urge others to do. We see no other way to give force to the appeal to others to go. [100]

The demand for preaching is such that we can see no possible way to excuse any man that can go. We have, therefore, rather concluded to go while we can.

When we shall go hence, we desire that any who may refer to us may see that while we said go we also went.

We are perfectly aware that we could, in some respects, make the paper better to devote our entire attention to it; but, that we could, in every sense, give it the spirit and power that we can when we are in the field and among the people continually, we still hold in doubt. We desire to do all we possibly can for the cause, while it is to-day.

THERE is nothing about “the final annihilation of the wicked,” in the Bible, nor “the final annihilation” of anything. The talk about the “annihilation of the wicked,” no matter whether “final” or not, is mere outside talk, as nothing of the kind is found in Scripture. We can see why a man should want information about a country or a place where he intends or expects to go, but why any man should always be talking about a country or place to which he does not intend or expect to go, we never could see. There is one thing clear, and that is, that any term used in Scripture to describe or express the destiny of the wicked [101] beyond the judgment, is such as to deter any man from desiring it, no matter whether figurative or literal. It is equally certain that no man will ever be saved by explaining to him all about the meaning of the terms applied to the destiny of the wicked, nor will a constant study of these terms, and talking about them, qualify any man for heaven.

Some of these terms are figurative and some of them are literal. In some instances it may be difficult to determine whether a term is literal or figurative, but in some it is not difficult. It is clear, however, that whatever terms are used, they all apply to the same things. Such a phrase as “beaten with many stripes,” we doubt not, is figurative, and so is “gnashing of teeth.” But “punishment” is literal, no matter in what it consists. No matter what term is applied to it, nor whether literal or figurative, the idea of “punishment” is always in it, always present. No matter how they will be punished, what the means of punishment, or of what the punishment will consist, there is still the reality—the punishment. This is what the Lord calls “everlasting,”—“everlasting punishment.” See Matthew xxv. 46. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal.” In the original we have the same word (aionion) for “eternal” and “everlasting.” In the same sentence the Lord uses the same word to express the duration of the punishment and the duration of the life of the righteous, and there is as much reason, and no more, for concluding that the “eternal life” shall terminate, as that the “everlasting punishment” of the wicked shall cease. At the same time that the righteous enter into life, the wicked “go away into everlasting punishment,” and the same word, in the same sentence, in the [102] lips of our Lord, expresses the duration of both; and we have just as much respect for an expositor of Scripture that undertakes to prove that the state of glory shall cease to exist as for the expositor that undertakes to prove that the punishment shall cease to exist, no matter whether he be called Restorationist, Universalist, Soul-sleeper or what.

The man that thinks of “eternal life” merely as eternal conscious existence, has no adequate conception of the meaning of the term. It is used to express the entire state of glory, with all that pertains to it. In the same sense the phrase “second death” is used to express the state of perdition, including all that is in it. The terms “saved” and “lost” are used in the same sense. “Saved” includes the entire inheritance of the saints; all they shall have and enjoy. “Lost” includes all that shall be inflicted on the condemned; the entire state and all that is in it.

Mortality is never applied to the soul of man in Scripture, nor is immortality. We never read of a mortal or an immortal soul, nor of a soul being made mortal or immortal. Mortality and immortality are applied to the body and not to the soul. The body is mortal, but in the resurrection will be made immortal.

It is infinitely wiser to teach men how to keep out of hell, while they are out, than to teach them how to get out, after they are in hell, or to prove that they will cease to exist. We do not think much of men that study how to pick locks and escape from prisons; but we esteem the men who teach how to keep out of prisons by avoiding the crimes on account of which men are imprisoned. There is no benevolence in tampering with the divine penalties in any way, either in out-and-out [103] denying the existence of any punishment after death, or modifying it. The Bible contains its clear discrimination between the righteous and the wicked, and unequivocally declares that it shall not be with him that does not serve God as with him that serves him. It is not in vain to serve God. It would have been better for Judas if he had not been born, as clearly stated by our Lord. There is a sorer punishment than death without mercy. There is an “everlasting punishment,” and no sound learning can make this mean everlasting non-existence. Non-existence is not punishment, else we were always in punishment till we were brought into existence. There is a punishment where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched. There is no more evidence that this will ever cease to exist than that the state of glory itself shall cease to exist.

MIRACLES are necessary to give a new institution and confirm it to the world, but when it is given and confirmed, no miracle is needed to perpetuate it. It required miracles to confirm the mission of the apostles and prove to the world that they were from God. So would it require miracles now to confirm the missions of any other man or set of men claiming to be specially called and sent as the apostles were, and [104] in default of any miracles, we do not believe any men are now called and sent, as they were. The divine attestations that established the apostolic mission, among the people of their time, against their established religion, all their prejudices and every worldly consideration, was committed to record, and will establish it to all the generations to come. The same testimony that proved a man guilty of murder one hundred years ago, will prove him guilty forever. It does not require that witnesses continue to be sworn and testify to prove it to other people. In the same way, the testimony that proved the divinity of Christ, at the beginning of his reign, has been committed to the record and will prove it forever. There is no new testimony, and none is needed. Those who lived in the time when the Lord was on earth, saw him, or saw those who did see him, or, at least, many of them did; they saw many of his wonderful works, or many who did see them; they heard the prophecies uttered by him, or saw those who did hear them, but did not live to see the fulfillment. We did not see him, nor witness his miracles, nor hear him utter the prophecies alluded to, but we now have the faithful records of history in which we find accounts of the fulfillment of his wonderful predictions extending down through the ages, for more than eighteen centuries. We do not, therefore, need a repetition of the miracles, or the prophecies, or their fulfillment. They stand there, firm as the everlasting hills, serving God’s eternal purpose; confirming the divine mission of his Son, and the New Covenant, of which he is the Mediator. [105]

When did these miracles cease? They ceased when the apostles died, and all on whom they laid their hands. Every pretense of a miracle from then till now, has been nothing but a lying pretense. Not a genuine miracle has been done.

We have in the Bible the clear statement that the spiritual gifts—the supernatural gifts—would be superseded by “a more excellent way;” that tongues should cease, prophecies should fail, and knowledge—the supernatural gift of knowledge—should be done away. In accordance with these statements, these gifts have ceased, and thus fulfilled Paul’s statement, and proved that the Spirit of God was in him. The eternal Spirit saw, and, through him, foretold that these gifts should cease, as he did in the Apostle John, at the close of Revelation, the conclusion of the sacred canon, that nothing more was to be added, and nothing taken away. This ended the revelations from God. We have had not one word since, and will not have till the end of time.

WE do not know “who was Cain’s wife,” only that she was Mrs. Cain. We do not know that it is of any more importance to us who Cain’s wife was than who the wife of any other man was or is. We must not fall out with the Bible because it does not gratify our curiosity in giving us information on many little particulars of no consequence to us. We do [106] not know who President Grant’s wife was. We, no doubt, could easily have found out, but it was of no importance to us to know, and we have never tried to learn. Yet it is of as much importance to us, and as much in reference to our salvation, as to know who Cain’s wife was. We can not give information that is not in the Bible. The Bible does not tell who Cain’s wife was.

WE single not out baptism and make it essential, nor conversion—as a whole—and make it essential; but we single out what the Lord requires, not only in regard to conversion, or making Disciples, but in regard to the life or the practice required of those in Christ, in which they are to continue after they have turned to the Lord; everything in the law of God, and maintain that it is all essential. The will of God is essential, and that which is not in the will of God is not essential. The will of God, or what is required in the law of God, must be done. That which is not in the will of God, or is no part of the law of God, is not to be done at all, or not to be introduced as religion, or any part of it, nor is the peace of the church to be interrupted with it. The only way to avoid the trouble about the unessentials is simply to leave them out—to have nothing to do with [107] them. What regard can a man have for the welfare of the Church, the peace of the people of God, and the triumphs of the faith, who will not only have himself what is not required, not essential, and what he admits is not required, but force it upon others?

WE know it is right to “Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly; and with all wisdom teach and admonish each other by psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing with gratitude in our hearts to the Lord”—to “be filled with the Spirit; speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.” This can be done, and we know it is right; but that a man can make melody in his heart to the Lord “with an organ,” a fiddle, banjo, clarionet, lute, fife or jew’s-harp, we do not know, nor do we believe it. We want to do what is written, and enjoin it on others, to do it. What is not written we do not want to do. When the Lord so minutely describes how we are to do anything, we want to do it in that way. The way he prescribes will do the thing commanded; some other way might not do what is commanded at all.

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IN our generation, a vast amount of ink and breath is wasted in writing and preaching about infant sin, infant salvation, idiots, etc. There is one thing certain about it, and that is, that our writing and preaching about infant sin, infant salvation, Christ dying for infants and idiots, never saved an infant, an idiot, or anybody else. We do not, by our writing and preaching about them, make them sinful or righteous. It is simply writing and preaching about them, and not to them, and certainly can do them no good. It is purely curious and speculative, pleasant for men and women to talk about, who will not love and obey the Savior themselves.

There are some things so clear in themselves that all can see them on the mere mention of them. Infants and idiots can not understand, believe, receive, reject, or obey the gospel. They can not repent, pray, praise God or rejoice. The gospel is simply not addressed to them. Infants and idiots are plainly and simply not gospel subjects. How are they then to be saved? What salvation do you mean? Salvation from sin, do you say? What sin? They never sinned, and have no actual sin, as the schoolmen style it. They are under no guilt. They never transgressed any law, human or divine. They never rejected Christ nor the gospel. They have no personal sin or guilt; no personal [109] condemnation, and need no personal justification. The justification we receive in believing and obeying the gospel, is from our own sins, actual sins, sins we have committed ourselves. Infants have no sins of this kind and need not this justification. The remission of sins received, in turning to God, is for sinners; those who, in their own persons have committed sins, and not for infants, who have never sinned—who have no sins of this kind. They have no guilt, no condemnation, and need no salvation from “old sins,” as Peter has it, or past sins. They have no sins of this kind.

But, then, this is only a partial view of the matter. We all need something more than this. We need another salvation beyond pardon, or salvation from actual sins; we need to be ransomed from the grave, raised from the dead; our bodies changed, glorified, immortalized. The infant and idiot need this. This salvation is future. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” “By one man, sin entered into the world.” “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.” But we are not under the guilt of Adam’s sin; only under the consequences. These consequences came on us without our will, volition or consent; without our action. We had no power to avert the calamity. It came on us unconditionally. The first Adam, without our volition or action, involved us in it. The second Adam, the Lord from heaven, unconditionally removes it from us. Without our volition or action, he takes it away. The first Adam involved us in death. Our turning to God, becoming christians and obtaining remission of sins, does not save us from death. We all die the same as those not Christians. After we die, [110] the best of saints, we need the same ransom from the grave, as infants do. To be made alive; to be changed, immortalized and glorified. This is the salvation from Adam’s sin, or the consequences of it, and this is needed for the saints and infants alike.

“If one died for all, then we are all dead.” I. Cor. v. 14. This includes infants and idiots. Christ then died for all. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The same “all” that die in Adam shall be made alive in or by Christ. Christ, then, died for all,—all that die in Adam,—and will make the same “all” alive, or raise them from the dead. He, then, in dying for all, died for infants and idiots, and secured for them resurrection from the dead, and they need to prepare them for the world to come.

They can receive no gospel, and need none; they can not repent, and need no repentance; they can not pray or commune, and need no prayer or communion; they need no religion, and are simply not subjects of religion. They need no church. The gospel, repentance and remission of sins, the church and all that is in it, is for pardoned persons—those washed from their sins—the redeemed by the blood of Christ, and not for those who never sinned, had no guilt, and needed no pardon—those who have no faith and know not the Savior.

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WE have not time to elaborate it now, but we can state, that there is one religion that is the supreme and absolute authority—that is simply the religion of Christ. There is nothing but human authority in any other. That religion presents a heaven and a hell, the one as certain as the other. It is not to be tampered with, nor trifled with. It offers life and threatens death. It has justification and condemnation, its rewards and punishments. It has God in it, Christ and the Holy Spirit, prophets, apostles and martyrs. Men submit when they come to it, and yield to it, in doing which they submit and yield to its Divine Author. The secrets of men will be judged by Jesus Christ according to the gospel. If we expect to enter the everlasting city, we must listen to the Bible.

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WHILE we were in Carlisle, Kentucky, in May, we learned that Bro. Reynolds, who was engaged in an interesting meeting a few miles off, had announced that he would preach on dancing on a morning. As we had no appointment for preaching that morning, Bro. Jones proposed to take us to the place to hear Bro. Reynolds. On arriving we found a good audience in attendance, and Bro. Reynolds prepared for his work. He pressed us to address the people, but we declined on the ground that he had announced his subject, the people had come to hear him, and that we were interested in the matter and desired to hear him. He then entered upon his work.

Bro. Reynolds is a self-made man, and not a man not made at all, but made in the genuine sense, an effective and telling man. He is a cool, deliberate and pointed speaker; speaks with perfect ease, and interests an audience from first to last. He is simply himself, and imitates no one. We decided before he was near through his discourse to write out an epitome of it, but one thing after another has hindered us till weeks have passed, and we took not a note, and we fear now that our article will be but little more than an article about the discourse.

[113] This means to test or try all things, consider their claim, and determine which are good. Hold that fast.

Exod. xv. 20, we find an account of dancing: “And Miriam the prophetess, and the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.” Several things are to be noticed in this dancing. 1. It was in daylight. 2. The women alone danced. 3. It was a religious exercise, in rejoicing over their wonderful deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the pursuit of their enemies, and to the praise and honor of God. They were religious people, praising and honoring God.

Exod. xxxii. 19, we have an account of dancing: “And it came to pass as soon as he” (Moses) “came nigh to the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing, and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” We are not informed who danced in this instance, but the whole procedure was idolatrous. The shouting and dancing were in devotion to the molten calf.

Judges xi. 34: “And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came to meet him, with timbrels and with dances, and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.” 1. This dancing was in daylight. 2. One female danced alone. 3. She simply danced in joy to meet her father, and her dance was soon followed with a terrible calamity.

Judges xxi. 19–21: “Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh, yearly, in a place which is on the north side of [114] Beth-el, on the east side of the highway, that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; and see, and behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.” This dancing was in daylight. The females alone danced. We are not told what the object of the dancing was.

I. Sam. xviii. 6: “And it came to pass, as they came, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.” 1. This dancing was in daylight. 2. The women alone danced. 3. It was rejoicing in view of a special favor of God.

I. Sam. xxx. 16: “And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day; and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, who rode upon camels, and fled.” In this case the dancing was with eating and drinking, and for amusement. It was revelling. They were not religious people, but the wicked, and the calamity soon came upon them.

II. Sam. vi. 12–14: “And it was told King David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, [115] because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so, that when they that bear the ark of the Lord, had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen epod.” This dancing was in daylight. David alone danced. It was a religious exercise, in devotion to the Lord.

I. Chron. xv. 29: “And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michal, the daughter of Saul, looking out at a window, saw King David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart.” This dancing was in daylight. David alone danced. He danced as a religious exercise. It was not dancing for amusement.

Psalms cl. 4: “Praise him with a timbrel and dance; praise him with stringed instruments and organs.” Also, Psalms cxlix. 3: “Let them praise his name in the dance.” This also is a religious exercise.

Eccl. iii. 4: “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” We do not remember the point made on this. We have seen from the Scriptures already cited, that in the former ages, when they danced as a religious exercise, it was always in daylight, and in no case promiscuous dancing of men and women together, and the time for it was when the Lord had wrought some great deliverance or brought some signal, given some great victory.

Job xxi. 11–18: “They send forth their little ones like a flock, and the children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the [116] sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him?, Lo, their good is not in their hand; the counsel of the wicked is far from me. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carrieth away.” Here we have a terrible description of the dancers for pleasure, amusement; of their godless character and utter ruin.

Mark vi. 22: “And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said to the damsel, Ask of me whatever you will, and I will give it to you. And he swore to her, Whatever you shall ask of me, I will give to you, to the half of my kingdom. And she went forth and said to her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste to the king, and asked, saying, I will that you give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.” Here we have a fine sample of the taste, the spirit and refinement of the dancer and her mother. What had John the Baptist done that his head should come off to gratify the mother of a dancing damsel? John had said, “It is not lawful for you” (Herod) “to have your brother’s wife.” This insulted Mrs. Herod, and she sought and obtained revenge through her dancing daughter and a rash vow of the king. What a reward this for [117] dancing and pleasing the king—the head of the best man in his kingdom, a prophet from God! This was dancing for pleasure, for amusement. This dancing for amusement, pleasure, is revelling, and excludes from the kingdom.

Gal. v. 21: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Bro. Reynolds gave a definition of the word “revelling,” and the original Greek word komos, which it represents, which we have not at hand and do not recollect; only that dancing for pleasure, amusement, with eating and drinking, is revelling, and they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. He also made a happy hit on the clause, “such like”—that is, “revellings and such like”; that it included the plays of folly, the innocent games for amusement, etc.

We are sorry that we have forgotten so much of the comment and so many of the good points in the discourse. It was in grand contrast with much that we have. He is not trying to determine how much folly and sin we can practice and still be saved, but how fully men and women can be saved from all folly and sin. The Lord strengthen his hands and the hands of every other man walking nobly in resistance against the demoralizing influences now upon us.

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THE worst difficulty there is to encounter is the general state of indifference. There is a general state of don’t-careitiveness. The Galio feeling abounds. Of all the opponents the preacher of Christ has to contend with, there is none that we so much dread, as the man who cares for nothing—who is wholly indifferent—who scarcely has vitality enough to sit up in his pew, unless he can sleep sitting. There are men in these times, who by custom, mere habit, indifferently float along with the current to the place of worship, and sit, lean down, lie down, or lounge in an audience before a preacher, who seem to say, by every motion, every cuticle of the face, expression of the countenance and move of the eye, in thunder tones, to the discerning preacher, I do not care what you say—whether your doctrine is true or false. This discomfits the preacher. What can be done for a man who does not care? What can a preacher do for a man whose spirit is so calloused and numbed as to be incapable of giving attention to a single discourse? What can be done for men who have so lost the love of the truth, all interest in it, and so unfeeling to all its appeals, as to sit before him who pleads its holy claims with earnestness, wholly inattentive? To such men the whole appears idle tales, a kind of dream or kind of dim vision. Many in this description, in church and out of it, cannot be [119] aroused from their stupor, awakened from their slumbers and brought out from the almost impenetrable spell of thick darkness that envelopes them, by the efforts of any preacher. The thunders of Sinai would not do it. The melting strains of gospel love will not do it. Heaven’s beneficence to man is all nothing to them. Many, in this generation, will never be awakened from this deep and awful slumber, and the thick darkness that surrounds them, till the voice of the archangel from heaven and the trumpet of God shall summon them to the judgment of the great day.

An effort is demanded, such as we, as a people, have never made; such as man has rarely made; in any age, an equal to anything in the power of man to make, to awaken our cotemporaries from this terrible and fearful state of death. None but men who are in earnest can do anything in this work. Men who have no concern themselves, or who are nearly in the same predicament, may deliver their little, dry and lifeless harangues, but they make no impression. Men must be fully alive, have the benevolence of God at heart, enter the work with the whole soul, and labor mightily for the Lord. We must feel the need of a great effort, to save man, maintain righteousness and restrain the world from sin, and our efforts must make men feel the necessity of such an effort. It is not necessary that the imagination should be wrought up, but merely that the people be made conscious of the reality, to move those in the reach of reason and argument. But, we defer approaching any other point, for a month.

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APOLOGY First. “It is not necessary to make such an incessant war upon our creed; it is just like the Bible; it is all scriptural.” In this case admitting, for the sake of argument, what is not true of any human creed, that it is “just like the Bible,” we reply, that is useless, and will do no better than the Bible itself. If it is just like the Bible it will accomplish nothing more than the Bible, and be just as deficient. Nothing can be gained by it; nothing can be accomplished by it which the Bible itself could not accomplish, so that it must be utterly useless. In that case there can be no excuse for having it—not only so, but the person holding on to and contending for such a creed, is inexcusable on another account. To give up a creed just like the Bible, and take the Bible itself as a rule of faith and practice, a man would lose nothing, for he would find all his creed in the Bible. We insist, therefore, that one of the most inexcusable, unreasonable and unjustifiable positions a man can occupy, is to hold on to, contend for and insist that he can not do without a creed which he insists is just like the Bible, though he can have the Bible itself! The Bible will certainly accomplish all that any creed just like it can.

Apology Second. “It is useless to be contending against our creed. It contains nothing that is not in the Bible. It is simply an abstract, epitome or abridgment of Bible doctrine, so arranged as to be convenient [121] and show at a glance what we hold.” This is quite a specious apology, and has succeeded in deluding and deceiving many persons, and silencing their consciences, and is, therefore, more especially deserving of attention. This apology is dangerous because it acknowledges that the creed contains and sets forth what the party believes—its faith. Now, we assert, without hesitation, that any man who believes no more than is set forth in any human creed on earth, and will do no more than any human creed requires, has neither faith nor obedience enough to be acceptable with God. There is not a human creed on earth, that contains the whole Christian faith. Their faith is too narrow. We have no confidence in epitomes, abstracts, or abridgments of the faith. Nothing less than the faith, the whole faith of Christ, is sufficient to meet the divine approbation. No man’s faith not as broad as the Bible is broad enough for us. His faith must contain Moses and Jesus, the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. There must be no abstracting, no epitomizing, no abridging. The man not willing to receive Christ, and the whole Christian faith, as God has set him and the faith forth, in the Holy Scriptures, is not a christian, and had better make no pretence to christianity. We do not wish a man to come describing how he views every point of doctrine. We do not desire him to come declaring that he receives Christ as a Trinitarian or Unitarian, a Calvinist or an Arminian, but to come with a contrite spirit, avowing it as the desire of the heart, and his full determination, to receive Christ with all his heart, as God has revealed him in the prophecies of the Old Testament and the apostolic preaching of the New. [122]

The advocate of a human creed says, he wants his creed to “show at a glance what we hold!” Look over your creed, then, right carefully, and see what you hold, and look over the New Testament with the same care, and see what an amount it contains that you do not hold, or that is not in your creed, and you will see that your creed is not a respectable skeleton—that it not only lacks the flesh, blood, muscles, arteries, veins, etc., of the body, but it lacks many of the bones and, what is vastly more, it lacks the life, the soul, the spirit. If it contains what you hold, much as precious as any part of the Christian faith, and as binding as any thing God has revealed, clearly and as explicitly laid down in the New Testament, is not contained in what you hold at all. Much of as precious truth as is contained in the Bible, a vast amount as clear to the children of God as anything contained in the Christian faith, an immense deal as consoling to the dying saint as any thing in the word of God, as any man who has ever looked must admit, is not found in any human creed. We say again, and can prove at almost any length, that there is not a human creed in the world that is a respectable skeleton, that is even a perceptible shadow of the Christian faith. Indeed, no creed appears to have been intended simply to set forth the Christian faith. It does not appear to be the object of any human creed to set forth the simple faith of Christ or Christianity. None of the creeds claim to be the Christian faith, the Christian confession, Christian discipline or Christian system, but one is “The Philadelphia Confession,” another “The Westminster Confession,” and a third “The Methodist Discipline.” The object of [123] these books, and all of the same kind, appears to be more to set forth the views their authors had of certain points of doctrine, or their notions of these points, than to set forth the whole Christian faith itself. Their object is much more to show how the parties adopting them held certain points of doctrine, and to distinguish their views from some others, than to set forth the Christian faith. The creeds, then, are but little more than epitomes of men’s views of certain points of Christian doctrine, their abridged understanding of these points. Now, the belief and reception of men’s views of the Christian faith will not save any man, much less the belief and reception of their views of a few points of doctrine; but to be saved, a man must believe and receive the Christian faith—the whole Christian faith itself.

“BUT we want something binding.” Look then, at the command accompanying this oracle, or confession, or immediately following it, if you desire something binding, or authoritative. We allude to the authoritative utterance, “Hear Him.” God, who made the worlds—God, who rules among the armies of heaven—who hurled angels down to hell for disobedience—whose voice shook the earth. God, who holds the destinies of all the nations in his hand, who “weighs the hills in a balance, and [124] handles the isles as a very little thing,” in connection with the revelation of his Son, to all the nations of the earth, with all the majesty of his authority, says, “Hear Him;” give him audience; regard him; bow to him; follow him; be guided by him; honor and obey him forever. How utterly futile and insignificant the attempt of puny and erring mortals to add anything to the great oracle, or confession, in which is concentrated the whole christian institution, and with which is connected the authoritative words of the ineffable Jehovah, “Hear Him.” If a man receives the revelation God makes of his Son, or, rather, if he receives his Son, from the revelation he has made of him, and bows in submission to him, in accordance with the command to “Hear Him,” confesses with the mouth before men, what he believes in the heart, that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” and submits to the Divine test of loyalty, in the requirement to be buried with his Lord in baptism, while that great formula is uttered over him, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” he gives the highest assurance in his power to give, that he is changed in heart, that he loves God and will serve him, and is bound by the strongest pledge, the highest and most solemn obligation that ever did or ever can bind a human being, to love and serve God. To add a thousand human ceremonies to this, would give no higher assurance of the preparation of the heart, the designs and resolutions being genuine, and bind the individual no more solemnly to be faithful to the end. The confession that God requires, is the greatest confession that man can make, and the making of it is the best evidence a man can give [125] that his heart is right. The first test of loyalty God has required of the penitent confessor, is the strongest, highest, and most solemn to which man can submit, and the submission to it, is the strongest evidence of loyalty the person can give. The authority that requires this submission, is the highest and most binding that can rest upon a human being; and, if it does not govern, control and restrain the person, no authority can.

If such a confession as this—one that takes in God and man, heaven and earth, the Savior and his words, the whole revelation from God, the sublime confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, made in a proper manner, will not show that the heart is right. You need not add any such catechisms or experiences as are common in these times. They are all perfect nothingness compared with this great confession, which, like the spider’s web, may catch flies and gnats, while the dangerous wasp and hornet will pass through with ease. The safe ground, and the only safe ground, is to follow the simple and infallible leadings of the Spirit of God. Appeal to the sacred record, and examine his divine and unerring procedure the day he came down from heaven and guided the apostles into all truth. What did he require of men on that day, before receiving them into the church? Follow him as he guided the apostles in all the cases of conversion mentioned in the sacred record. What did he require in all these cases? The same must be required now, and no more. We must be led by the Spirit of God, in converting sinners, and not by human creeds; we must be guided by the wisdom of God and not by the [126] wisdom of man; we must have confidence in the ways of God and show no hankering after the ways of man. God will depart from all who turn away from the simplicity of the apostolic practice, under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit. No man is led by, or has the spirit, who has not full confidence in requiring precisely the same of all who enter the church required by the apostles, as by the Holy Spirit, who guided them. He simply required the confession with the mouth, of the faith of the heart.

WE have had a continuous series of writing and preaching about properly qualified Evangelists, and numerous schemes have been set on foot and advocated, for raising up and qualifying men for this great work. Still, the Evangelical field is not at all supplied. No scheme set on foot is supplying, or likely to supply, the field. Some few preachers are being manufactured, but where do they go? and what do they do? How many of them go out into the field and preach the gospel, convert sinners, plant and build up churches? Where is one doing anything of this kind? In many parts of the country, they have made people believe that the old preachers who have planted the churches and made the principal part of all the converts that have been made, are behind the [127] times, and incapable of preaching, discouraged and driven many of them from the field, and the work is not progressing. We need, and must have, if we ever progress, evangelists, or missionaries, who will travel throughout the length and breadth of the country, visit the churches, “see how they do,” “set in order the things that are wanting,” recruit their numbers, and maintain the faith once delivered to the saints. We need, and must have, men who will visit weak churches, enter new communities, where there are no churches,—bold adventurers, pioneers to open the immense forests, and make the rude desert blossom like the rose. This work must be done, and we must have the men that can and will do it.

Where are we to obtain this class of men? Can we never learn anything from the history of the past, from all experience? Where did the men come from, who have done pretty much of all this kind of work that has ever been done? Is a miracle to be expected? Will men for this work, come from a source whence such men never came? No! never while man is man, and human nature is human nature. Men brought up in school houses, fed and clothed from their father’s pockets, without ever knowing what it was to earn a dollar, or a coat for their backs, without knowing anything about the hardships and buffetings of the world, no matter if they become scholars, and learn how to say a few fine things, never will and never can do the work we are speaking of. They have not the constitution, the physical energies to do it. They have not the knowledge of the world, the ways and manners of the people to do it. They know nothing of the toils, hardships, and burdens, of the masses [128] of mankind; are incompetent to sympathize with them, mingle with them, become a fellow creature with them, and preach the Gospel of Salvation to them, in an acceptable and successful manner and save them. They not only are wholly incompetent, incapable, and could not, if they would; but it is not their atmosphere, not their congenial sphere, and they never will do the work in the Lord’s great Evangelical field. They never have done the work, and never will.

We must turn our eye in another direction. We must look to men who have come up in our midst, among the people, who are of the people, in active life, habits of industry, who have known what it was to earn a living—men who have found out what a dollar is worth by earning it; learned the people by mingling with them; developed their physical man by active and industrious life; know the ways of the world by being in it. We must look to men of this description whose hearts have been overcome by the love of Christ, whose energies have been enlisted in the churches, and who are brought forth by the churches, and should be reared up and encouraged by the churches. Here is where we must look for Evangelists. The church must open the way for her young men, set them forth, and bring out all the talent she has within; and every man that has the natural endowment, the energy, the love for man, the anxiety for man’s salvation, necessary for one who would go out into the world to save men, will make his way into the Evangelical field, and make his mark in the world. If he lacks learning or information, and has the proper zeal, desire for his work, and natural endowment, he [129] will acquire the learning and knowledge. We must open the way for such, in all the churches; show our young men that we are looking for them to come forth and enter upon this great work. We must give them opportunities and encourage them to speak, to read the Scriptures and pray in public, and we shall soon find that the Lord has plenty of material of the first quality, for this great work.

Here is the source whence our laboring men have come—our active effective men who are doing, and have always done the work. It is useless for us to be deluded by the vain hope that the men we need, will ever come from any other source. We must turn our attention to the Evangelical work, concentrate our energies upon it, and do all in our power to promote it. Every man that can preach at all; every man that can turn a sinner to the Lord, should be engaged in the work, with all zeal and power. We must preach the word both publicly and privately, with the tongue, and pen through newspaper, pamphlet, magazine, tract and book; in every possible way, and by all means, we must preach the word of God from the rivers to the ends of the earth, and make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. “Go,” brethren, the Lord says, “Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature;” “Go,” says he, “therefore, and teach all nations.” Let every man go, who can call a few people together, and preach the word of the Lord to them. Yes, go if you can preach at all, turn sinners to God and save them;—go and preach. Go under a sense of the mighty work, remembering the language of that [130] great preacher and apostle to the Gentiles, “Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel.” God requires those who have the gospel and the ability, to preach it now, and this same wo will rest upon them if they do not do it.

What a crying sin against the Lord, who gave us the gospel, and man to whom he commands it to be preached, for those with the ability, to refuse to preach the gospel of the grace of God? Who but these shall answer to God, if the people perish for the word of God? The first disciples, when dispersed from their homes, deprived of all their earthly good, “went everywhere preaching the word.”

MEN do not get a support, or do much good, in any calling, without work, and there is no calling on earth where the distinction is wider, between the industrious and indolent, than in the christian ministry. We can not be supported in the ministry without work, and it is not right that we should be. The Lord puts us upon the same footing as other men. We must rise early, be at our books, off to our appointments, through winds, rains, and snows, cold and heat, with zeal and earnestness; preach with spirit and power, whether the audience is great or small, rich or poor, both early and late. We must come to the [131] people with something cheering, strengthening, inspiring, awakening, stirring, and thrilling the hearts of men with the theme of Calvary. There must be no murmuring, complaining, and repining about the amount we have to do; we must do it cheerfully, and show that we delight in our Lord’s work. It is a most sacred honor to us—a mercy from God—that we are permitted to work for him, in his most glorious cause at all; and the work must be performed cheerfully, freely, and with all the heart, or it will not be acceptable to him, whether we are supported or not.

The Lord has said that “the laborer is worthy of his hire,” and if the preacher of Christ imparts spiritual things, he is to receive in return, temporal things; but a “laborer” is a working man, and the Divine rule is, “if we sow sparingly, we shall reap sparingly.” The man who preaches the gospel is by all reasonable men expected to do as much labor as his strength will permit. It is reasonable that he should be expected to apply his energies as men of other pursuits. The field is wide open before him, and he should be a zealous, enterprising, and persevering man, making full work in his calling. A man who does not work any save a little on one or two days in a week, does not receive much reward in any business, unless obtained by fraud. The physician who makes a good support, works early and late, both good weather and bad. The lawyer who makes a good support, is one of industry and energy. The farmer who prospers, rises early, toils hard, and perseveres late. In all departments, industry, perseverance and energy characterize men who prosper. This is as true of the ministry as any [132] class of men on earth; they can never prosper without the most untiring industry and perseverance. It is utterly useless for a man of idle habits, addicted to loafing, wasting his precious time in useless gossip to speak of his wants, his lack of support, or to try to induce persons of industrious habits to feel that he is in need. They will throw the whole matter off by saying, “Let him make an effort and apply his energies, as I have to do, and he will have plenty.” But let a preacher apply himself to his calling; persevere in it, making every effort in his power; thus showing to all who know him, that his labors are actually arduous and incessant, and he will receive full credit from not only his brethren, but the community generally, for his industry and faithfulness, and his temporal wants will as certainly receive attention, as that his work is of God.

The Lord has men yet in this world, good and true, who will reward labors of the faithful and persevering preacher of the gospel and support him. Indeed, there is a kind of fixed principle among men, as well as in the Divine administration, that industry shall be rewarded and indolence punished, and it is not more certainly a settled principle in reference to any class of men than preachers. We can not expect to be wrapped in cloths, silks, and satins, with fine salaries, for preaching one or two short discourses on Lord’s day, and then lying in the shade all the week; much less can we expect christianity to prosper, or the approbation of heaven rest upon us, in such an order of things. We must penetrate the whole land in every nook and corner, and preach the Word of the Living God to every creature. [133]

We have not written this for any preacher older than ourself, but for the sake of young men, whom we desire to see useful, influential, and well sustained ministers of the Word of God. All such we entreat, to study and labor to do the Lord’s work, and he will supply their wants out of his inexhaustible storehouse.

THE mere circumstance of a man being punished for his sins in this life, has nothing in it to purify his soul, purge his conscience, or prepare him for the enjoyment of God. The Egyptians, the Antediluvians, the Sodomites, and the Jews, had a just recompense of reward sent upon them in this world, but this only sent them down to tartareous, to be reserved, with the angels that sinned, to the judgment of the great day, where, we are assured, Sodom and Gomorrah shall appear. Some men appear to think, that if men are punished, to use their own style, as much as their sins deserve, they must necessarily be happy then. But men can not be happy—can not enjoy God, without justification, purification of heart and conscience; and, unless thus prepared for the enjoyment of God, they can not enjoy the world to come. This is a work that punishment can not do. The hurling of angels, that sinned, down to [134] hell, the drowning of antediluvians and Egyptians, the burning of Sodomites, and slaying of Jews, did not purify one of them. If men live in unbelief, commit some capital offence, and are executed for it, though this may be a just recompense of reward, it will not purify their souls and prepare them to enjoy God. When men pass the boundary line of life, they pass all the means, in the economy of God, for preparing them for heaven, and no punishment will ever do what the grace of God could not do.

THE mission of infidels is not to build up anything but to pull down churches, civil laws, governments, morals, the characters of men and women, peace, happiness, protection of home, property and life. They come with a mission of denials of the truths contained in the Bible—a mission of war upon the Bible, religion, and the friends of purity and mercy. They come not with a mission of peace and good will to man, but a mission of hatred towards the Bible and all it enjoins—a mission to pull down and destroy—to spread desolation among other men’s labors and lay their work in ruins, leaving nothing but wrecks and devastation. They come to neutralize, paralize and dishearten all efforts for the amelioration of man’s condition—to discourage, enfeeble and ignore all efforts to rise. They come not into our midst [135] with a warm, kind and affectionate appeal to the attentive, thinking and reflective portion,—the more spiritually minded; but appeal to the lukewarm, back-sliding, or the apostate, who is beginning to stand at a distance, who already is descending upon the retrograde plane—not to rescue him, or to prevent his retrograde movement, but to accelerate it. The appeal to him is not to give him confidence, but to destroy his confidence in his Bible, his religion, his brethren, and fill him with doubts and distrusts. It is not to embolden him, but to intimidate him and fill him with fears, and discourage him from all good forever.

The mission of infidels is not to enlighten, civilize and ennoble the nations. They have never enlightened, civilized or elevated a nation or a people since the world was made. They have never organized society, established peace and order in any place on this earth. They have established no civil institutions, no system of morals, no code of laws, no system of education, and no institutions of learning that deserve the name. Even the literature of the country has almost entirely been left to the believers in the Bible. It is an easy work to pull down civil government, subvert the foundation of organization, condemn the means of enlightenment, and object to them. It is an easy matter to deny everything and prove nothing; to doubt, vacillate and fear. It is an easy matter to distrust, fill others with distrust, destroy confidence, throw everything into confusion and uncertainty. Some men have fallen so fully into this state, that they hardly will venture to say they believe anything, have confidence in anything, or [136] know anything. One man, under the blinding, benumbing and stupifying influence of unbelief, when asked whether he knew that he existed, hesitated to say he did.

What ability, knowledge or learning does it require, to deny everything? The most ignorant, illiterate and stupid, can deny as stoutly, as the most learned, enlightened, and talented. It requires no strength of mind to stand and deny—to declare in the most pertinacious manner, disbelief, want of confidence, doubts, distrusts and uncertainties in everything. A man who never read the Bible once through in his life, nor ten other books, who has the most corrupt character, can talk of inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions and absurdities, in the Bible, as stoutly as anybody. Any blockhead could leap over the Falls of Niagara, or from the Suspension Bridge below. In the same way, any man with or without much mind, learning or talent, can leap into the dark abyss of unbelief, rejecting, contemning and despising all evidence; but, would it not be the part of prudence, of wisdom and discretion in such, to look before they leap? It is a fearful experiment they are making. If the step is a mistaken one, it can never be retraced beyond this life. He who makes the experiment, obtains nothing now, only the unbridled privilege of declaring the Bible false—religion priest-craft—that man will never be called to account, hence all men can do as they list.

The mission of infidels is to risk, and induce all men to risk the loss of everything, without the possibility of gaining anything in this world, or the world to come. They have no worthy object—they can have [137] no worthy object in opposing the Bible. They have no reason for opposing it, for they do not propose to make the world any better. They have no proposition to make the world more true, kind, affectionate or happy. Indeed, the very fact of their malignity towards the Bible, shows that it is no fable. The land abounds with acknowledged fables; why are they not enraged at these? They are read by the million; but, sceptics are no more enraged at them than other men. If they are satisfied the Bible is all fiction, false or human, why trouble us about it? Why not let it pass? We hear thousands contending about the “signs in the moon,” but we care nothing about them, and do not even trouble those who believe in them; the reason is, we are well and fully satisfied, that there is nothing in them. Why do they not let the believers in the Bible pass in the same way? The reason is obvious; they are in doubt, not fully satisfied, and feel that there is uncertainty in their position. They see and are constantly impressed with the fact, that if the Christian could be mistaken that his mistake amounts to nothing—that he is as happy now, and has as high assurance in regard to all beyond this life, to say the least of it, as they; and that if the sceptic should prove mistaken, his mistake will be an irreparable one. They see that a mistake on the part of a Christian involves no danger, no serious consequences in this world or the world to come; while a mistake on their part involves eternal consequences. They are not constantly impressed, too, with the fact, that they are relying upon that which amounts to anything like certainty; for a large proportion who have occupied their position, before death have [138] repudiated and renounced it,—many of them in the immediate expectation of death,—and warned all their friends against it. They find on the other hand, that all who believed the Bible when in health, also believed it when approaching death, and that no man who has contended for its truth till he was in the immediate expectation of death, has then denied it. They must, then, see that their mission is simply to fill the world with doubts and distrusts, involving all in darkness and uncertainty.

IS it not possible to rescue the people from the pernicious and blinding influences of speculative theories and theorists, and induce them to receive the simple faith of Christ, become his disciples, love him and serve him? Have the leaders of the people, in these times, as they did in the days of the Lord’s pilgrimage on earth, stolen away the key of knowledge, and fastened them down with such an impenetrable spell of thick darkness that they are unwilling to be rescued from this servile slavery to human speculation to the rejection of the sun of righteousness? Or is the world so lost, the mind of the people so bewitched, the delusions around us so enchanting, that it is impossible to attract the attention of the people, arrest their affections or impress their hearts, by the love of God to man, by the sufferings of [139] Christ, by all the divine sanctions of the blood of the everlasting covenant, by the glories of heaven, or the terrors of hell, to turn to the Lord and follow him who loved us and gave himself for us? Is the public mind so distracted, and are the people so confused and lost to all that God has said and done, that they can not be induced to love Christ better than all human theories, regard him and feel the force of all his love to our lost and ruined world? Are the people so set upon gnawing the bone of contention, keeping up sectarian feuds; disputing upon the lifeless, soulless and profitless controversies thrust upon them, that they will neither hear the Lord nor be interested in the word of his grace? Must the public mind be wholly occupied with the useless distinctions between the views of men, the useless comparisons of doctrines and commandments of men, the comparative merits of different human systems, and an eternal train of customs unknown to the primitive church, thus bewildering the people and blinding their minds that they may neither see the Lord nor regard his authority? Is it impossible to bring the authority of the Almighty again to bear upon the world, to lift up the Lord before the people, that he may draw all men unto him, convert them to the Lord and place them under him? Is it impossible to rescue the people from the blinding influences of these times—from being merely followers of men, and believing human theories, which have no power to save, in the place of believing the great truth, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures—that he was buried, and that he rose from the dead? Is it impossible to interest the public mind with the things of God—with the revelation from God to man, with the religion of Christ itself? Is the [140] love of God gone from the world? Has the Holy Spirit of God abandoned the church? Is the human race mad, insane and ruined, so that all pleadings and entreaties to turn to God must fail? Must the holy religion of Christ be set aside for the silly disputes of these times? Shall that holy religion that saved such vast multitudes in the days of the apostles, fired the hearts of the missionaries of the cross and supported the holy martyrs in passing through all the cruel scourgings, tortures and privations for the name of the Lord, be contemned, despised and rejected by the people of our day? O, that God would enable us to arouse the people of this generation from the awful stupor and deep slumbers of carnal security to prepare to meet God!

EARTH has some sacred spots where we feel like looseing the shoes from our feet, and treading with holy reverence; where common words of social converse seem rude, and the smile of pleasure unfitting; places where friendship’s hands have lingered in each other’s; where vows have been plighted, prayers offered, and tears of parting shed. Oh, how the thoughts hover around such places, and travel back through unmeasured space to visit them. But, of all the spots on this green earth, none is [141] so sacred as that where rest, waiting the resurrection, those we once cherished and loved—our brothers, our sisters, or our children. Hence, in all ages, the better part of mankind have chosen and loved spots for the burial of their dead; and on these spots they have loved to wander at eventide, to meditate and weep. But, of all places, even among the charnel-houses of the dead, none is so sacred as a mother’s grave.

There sleeps the nurse of our infancy—the guide of our youth—the counselor of our riper years—our friend, when others deserted us—she, whose heart was a stranger to every other feeling but love, and who could always find excuses for us when we could find none for ourselves. There she sleeps, and we love the very earth for her sake. With sentiments like these, I turned aside from the gayeties of life, to the narrow habitations of the dead. I wandered among those who had commenced life with me in hope. Here distinctions were forgotten; at least, by the quiet slumberers around me. I saw the rich and the great, who scorned the poor, and shunned them as infected with the plague, quietly sleeping by their side.

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THAT the obvious tendency of Universalism is irreligious; that it is opposed to holiness, to reformation of life; that it is in eternal hostility to all efforts to make the world better; that it paralyzes and neutralizes the efforts of men to serve God—is one of the most manifest impressions upon the mind, both from the theory itself, and from the history of its practical workings among men. No pretended system in our time has been characterized by such daring and unblushing effrontery. It comes forward under a pretense of faith, but ridicules the most awful and fearful things which that faith reveals. It discards the eternal discriminations which the faith of the Lord Jesus maintains between the righteous and the wicked—between those who serve God and those who serve him not—between the vice and virtue—except the reward of one and the punishment of the other, received in this life. It proposes to believe the Bible, and would have men believe that it teaches that he who was an atheist, a deist, and a scoffer at all that God has said, and a blasphemer of the name of God till he breathed the last breath, shall be received up into glory, and seated down with the holy martyrs of Jesus, and enjoy God forever! No other system has so far imposed upon the credulity of mankind, as to face the world, as well as the heavens, and declare that the lake of fire prepared for the [143] devil and his angels, where the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever—the gehena of fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched—is in this world, and that the wicked we see are actually enduring its punishments!

No infidel desires any better opposition to religion than this. No man who hates the Bible, and wishes its influence upon the world counteracted, desires any more effectual method of doing it than this, so far as men will receive it. Those who fall under its influence will neither worship God nor keep his commandments. Atheism itself has all the incentives to a righteous life found in this system, and may be trusted just as far. Its influence is to harden the heart, and fill the world with impenitence and indifference.

IF a man’s learning is combined with piety, devotion, and consecration to Jesus Christ, and he is possessed with the humility and meekness inculcated in Christianity, and his learning enables him to unfold the unsearchable riches of Christ, with the simplicity, sincerity and devotion necessary to commend it to the hearts and consciences of men, it is of great value. If the Lord dwells in a man, if the great matters of the kingdom of God fill his soul, and if his learning is used in [144] presenting the simple gospel of Christ in meekness, it may be of great service to him; but, it requires much care to keep the Lord in front of it, so that the hearers will see nothing but him. The more gifted the man, the more learned and powerful, the better, if all his powers are engaged in setting forth and honoring the Lord, sanctifying Him in the eyes of the people. At the same time, he should rely upon not learning only, or talent, or power that he possesses, but upon the Lord, upon his gospel—the power of God unto salvation, to every one who believes. He must look to heaven for the means to move men to repent; he must appeal to God, keep God and his works before his audience, and in this way show that his confidence is in Christianity itself, and the author of it, and not in himself, not in man. Whether men have what the world calls learning or not, they must know God, and have the love of God in their hearts, if they would induce others to love him and turn to him.

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CAN men lead the people astray by insisting upon their adhering strictly to the law of God, uniting upon it, living in peace and love? Let the Lord reign. Let his law be the supreme authority. The Bible is right if anything is right. All led by it are led rightly; all under its influence are under proper influence; all opposed to it are wrong—all the way wrong.

There is not one ray of light from heaven that has ever reached the abodes of men in any creed, any book, or any man that is not in the Bible.

If the man who honestly reads the Bible to know his duty or the will of God, and does it to the best of his ability, praying daily for the divine aid, both in understanding and doing, is not safe, infallibly safe and right; no man in this world is safe.

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ONE of the most common excuses offered for human creeds is, that “We want something to keep us together—something to bind us in union.” This apology is based virtually upon the same two preposterous assumptions we have before mentioned. It assumes, with great apparent innocence, that the Bible can not keep us together, that it cannot bind us in union. Then it assumes, with much modesty, that a human creed can keep us together—bind us in union—can do what the Bible can not do. This, it appears to us, should startle any good man at once. These assumptions are arrogant in the extreme, and not only arrogant, but made without any regard to facts. Do human creeds keep churches together? We assert, fearless of successful contradiction, that the whole history of human creeds proves that they do not keep churches together. Let us take one look at three of the most popular creeds in this country, and see what they have done in keeping churches together. How has the Baptist creed succeeded? Has it kept the Baptists together? By no means. From the one original Baptist stock we have now not less than nine or ten parties of Baptists. How has the Presbyterian creed succeeded in keeping its adherents together? It is thought to be a very wise and powerful document. Has it kept Presbyterians together? It has [147] succeeded no better than the Baptist creed. With all its adhesive power, Presbyterians, within the last century have sundered into some eight parties. This needs no commentary. How has the Methodist Discipline succeeded? It is itself nothing but an offshoot of the Episcopalian creed, which did not prevent the Methodists from stranding off from the established church. The Discipline has not been in operation more than one hundred and twenty years. How has it succeeded in keeping Methodists together during that period? During that time Methodism has stranded into some eight or ten fragments. What comment this furnishes upon the efficacy of human creeds to cement together. Other creeds have done no better; and yet, in the face of all this, men want human creeds to keep them together!

All history shows, beyond all dispute, that wherever human creeds have prevailed, divisions have abounded, partyism has increased, and unity has been diminished. But where the people had confidence in the Bible, the law of God, the “perfect law of liberty,” union has more widely extended, and peace has more generally prevailed. Why then, in the name of reason, hold on to human creeds to keep churches together, when they have so universally failed, and refuse the Bible, which has never failed?

Faith in a creed can not convert persons, or bring them to God. If they are Christians at all, faith in God, the Redeemer and Savior of men, in the Word of God, in the Gospel of Christ, has made them such, and to God and the word of his grace they should commit themselves, their everlasting trust, and not allow themselves to be divided by human creeds.

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THIS day was presented us some of the grandest objects of admiration, both of nature and art, we ever beheld. We saw some of the grandest, most stupendous and wonderful achievements of human enlightenment, combined with industry, we had ever seen. At one moment we found ourselves hundreds of feet above the tall pine trees, away in the valley below, where, if we had been thrown off the track, we must have been precipitated hundreds of feet down among the craggy rocks. In another moment, we passed from the skirts of tree-tops, plunging into the dark and dreary tunnel, cut through solid rock, hundreds of feet under ground, where we could no more see than if we had never had eyes. Truly is this a mighty and wonderful achievement for mortals—poor, weak and dying mortals? It is overwhelming that men should ever have projected, prosecuted, and completed such a conveyance as this, such a vast distance through this expanded and rugged region of country!

But, vast as this achievement may appear, when we are looking at it as a work of man, it diminishes, dwindles and sinks into utter insignificance and nothingness, when we lift our eyes above it, to “the everlasting hills,” the workmanship of Him who “weighs the hills in a balance, and handles the isles as a very little thing.” Also, how our hearts are filled with reverence and our spirits impressed with awe, [149] when we lift our eyes above the hills, to the vast mountains, and think of the thousands of miles over which this mighty range extends, as well as others on our great universe! We are, at the same time, filled with awe and gratitude, that we have the blessed assurance that we are not overlooked, forgotten, and lost in the immensity of the innumerable works of the Creator! But, blessed be his glorious name, vast and innumerable as are his marvellous works, he has the time, the goodness and compassion to provide for the fowls of heaven, and the fish of the sea, as well as the beasts of the forests. Among all the variegated multitudes of the feathered tribes, not even a sparrow falls to the ground unobserved by Him; and, by the same Omniscient One, we are assured, by our adorable Redeemer, the hairs of our heads are all numbered. To the same amount, and for the same purpose, he says, “If an earthly parent knows how to give good things to children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” How comforting to think that he has promised, saying, “I will never leave you nor forsake you, but will grant you grace and glory, and no good thing will I withhold from you?” How secure, too, we can feel, and how strengthening to reflect, when dashing through these fearful mountains, conscious that though in one moment an accident might occur by which our earthly career might be terminated, the everlasting arms are underneath; and though the earthly building may be destroyed, we have an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. To his Almighty hand we commit our all; in Him is our everlasting trust. To him be praises forever and ever.

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SOME men are guided by reason, others by providences, and others by spiritual influences, separate from, or without the word of God. In regard to all this, it is not necessary to make much war upon them, provided their reason, providences, or influences, lead them to obey the gospel, which we know was preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. But, it is a sad comment on their reason, providences, or spiritual influences, when it leads them to disobey the teachings of the Spirit of God in the Bible. Right reason, true providences, or real spiritual influences, could not lead any in our day to disregard what the Spirit of God taught in the establishment of Christianity. In one short sentence: “The Spirit of God would not lead men to disobey what he has clearly required in the Bible.” No reason, providences, or spiritual influences, therefore, can be of the Spirit of God to lead men to disobey what the Spirit of God taught in the Bible, or required at the beginning. The Spirit of God required precisely the same of all persons, who sought the way into the Kingdom of God, in the days of the Apostles, that he does of all who seek the way now. The Holy Spirit has not changed. It is, then, a most arrogant and unfounded pretence, for any man who now attempts to set forth the way for sinners to come to [151] God, to claim that he is led by the Holy Spirit, while he evades and refuses to set forth the plain and unequivocal requirements of the Holy Spirit, as set forth in the New Testament, or attempts to improve upon them. Nothing can be taken from those requirements, or added to them, without incurring the curse of Heaven. The Spirit of God, if he did lead men independent of his word, could not lead them to incur this awful curse; he, therefore, manifestly, does not lead any man who will add any thing to, or take anything from, what he required when he spake through the apostles, of all whom he showed the way into the Kingdom of God. That which he required in one case, he required in all cases. If he required one man to believe, in order to become a disciple, he required all to believe. If he required one man to confess Christ, he required all to confess him. If he required one man to repent, he required all to repent. If he required one man to “be baptized in the name of Christ, for the remission of sins,” he required all to do the same. If he promised one man pardon and the importation of his Holy Spirit, upon his compliance with his requirements, he promised all who complied with the same, whether all the items mentioned in one case, are found in all, or not. No matter if faith is not mentioned in the case of the three thousand on Pentecost; it is not left out; they all believed; for, without faith, it is impossible to please God. They that come to God must believe. No matter if repentance is not mentioned in Saul’s conversion. Acts xxii. 16, he repented, for God requires all men, everywhere, to repent. The same is true of all the items.

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We, therefore, are the only people now known, who proceed upon the infallibly certain method of collecting, and arranging in proper order, all the items required by the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners; we mean the inductive mode of reasoning. We have no preference for any particular part of Scripture; it is all precious to us. We have no particular class of Scriptures, as Calvinists, Universalists, Unitarians, etc., but we take the whole Scripture; not to prove our doctrine, but as the perfect and complete system of doctrine itself. When we wish to examine any point of doctrine, we proceed upon the inductive plan, and take all the Bible contains as the mind of God upon that point. When we would ascertain what the Holy Spirit of God requires of sinners, in their conversion and admission into the Kingdom of God, we proceed through all the conversions of the New Testament, collect all the items, and ascertain their order, and insist that the Holy Spirit requires the same now; nothing more, nothing less. Let us, then, take a brief look through the New Testament, at all the conversions, and ascertain precisely what is required and what is promised.

We open at the following words of the Philippian Jailor: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Here is a Pagan whose attention is for the first time called to the subject. What reply does the apostle make to him? The answer is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,”—Acts xvi. 30–31. Here is an important item in the form of requirement, and one, too, that can not be dispensed with, for the Holy Spirit says: “He that cometh to God must believe.” It is not only a requirement that he should, but a positive and [153] unequivocal demand is that he must believe, and this indispensable demand of him that “cometh to God.” See Heb. xi. 6. But now for the order of this item. Is it a first, second, third, or fourth item? Is it the first item, for the apostle says, in the context, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” It is in vain, then, to try to do any thing else to please him, so long as a man does not believe. It is the first item, because the apostle required it first of a man who had complied with no other item, in such a way as to lead him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ the first thing he did. It is the first item, because “whatever is not of faith is sin.”—Rom. xiv. 23. It must, therefore, be the first item, because everything else proceeds from it and is done by it. The first item in the commission is Faith, and he that sets aside that item will be condemned, let him think and act as he may in regard to all other items. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be dammed,” says the Lord. The first requirement, then, is to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and without complying with this requirement, or taking this step no person can ever take another. There is no reaching the second step without taking the first. Unless the first step is taken, it will eternally stand between any man and the second. This indispensable step was required of, and taken by all who came to God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who spoke through the apostles to the people to lead them to God. Never did one, from the days of the apostles to the present time, get round, or by, this great requirement, and come to God. It is true, that when the Pentecostians and Saul inquired what they should do, they were not commanded to believe; but it was [154] not that faith was dispensed with in their cases, or that the Lord had a different method of conversion for them, but for the good reason that they already believed, and their faith caused them to inquire what they should do.

Acts iii. 19, we find the following requirement laid down: “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” This requirement was uttered to an assembly that had just witnessed one of the most manifest miracles of the apostles—one which the enemies mentioned shortly after, admitting that it was known to all who dwelt in Jerusalem and that they could not deny it, and at the close of a discourse which they had heard, and which had convinced them that the work was of God. The Holy Spirit, on this occasion, demanded of them to repent, reform, or amend their lives. This demand too, is as wide as the actual sinners among men. In the times of ignorance before the gospel, God did not hold men to a strict account for their sins, “but now he commands all men, everywhere, to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness,” Acts xvii. 30–31. Repentance, too, is indispensable. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke xiii. 3. What does the Lord mean by this word, “except”? John iii. 3, he says, “except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” Two verses after this, he says, “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” Here we have the same word, “except,” again. What does he mean by it? At verse seven, he explains as follows: “Marvel not [155] that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” You must repent or perish, then, is the meaning of the words, “except ye repent, ye shall perish.” Repentance is then required of “all men, everywhere,” and is indispensable—must be.

But what evidence have you that repentance is the second item? It is the second item, because we have shown that faith is the first, which shows that repentance can not be the first; and because Peter—Acts ii. 3, and iii. 19,—addressing people who believed, but had not repented or done anything else, commanded them to repent. He makes it the second item. It is the second item, because a man can not repent till he believes in the Lord, before whom he must repent, and who convinces him of sin, for, “by the law is the knowledge of sin,” which shows that it must follow after faith; and because there is no other item in all the records of conversions required, that he can acceptably comply with, till he does repent. An impenitent person can not pray, confess, be baptized, or do anything acceptable to God. The person, therefore, who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, can not get over repentance, or do any thing else acceptable to God till he repents. His faith will do no good so long as he continues in impenitence. For his impenitence, if he persists in it, he must perish. In the order of God, it is the second step, and unless taken, will eternally stand between him and the third step. No advance can ever be made till he repents. “Except ye repent, ye shall perish.” It is true, that Ananias did not command Saul to repent; but it was not because it was omitted in his case, for no man ever entered the Kingdom of God without repentance; but he was not [156] commanded to repent, for the good reason he had repented before Ananias came to him. We are not to expect any historian, in giving records of conversions, and so many instances, to mention all the items in each case.

THIS has been a puzzling question. It is hard to find out precisely what it is. Not a man yet, of all who have been engaged in fighting this monster, has defined it, explained it, or told what it is. It has been called a dangerous heresy, and so many hideous warnings have been given against it, that the hair would almost stand upon a man’s head to hear about it, and yet no one has told what it is. The reason no one has defined Campbellism, is, simply, that there is no such thing in existence, except in the imaginations of some misguided doctors. As near as any man can now come, at what they mean by Campbellism, it is Christianity itself, unmixed, unadulterated, and without any other name. This is evident, for, when they hear a man preach, who preaches nothing but Christianity, nothing but Christ, simply aiming to convert men to him, and induce them to receive him as their only Leader, they call it Campbellism. It is nothing but a nick-name they have given the gospel, to keep men from hearing it. In [157] the same way, they call the preacher a Campbellite, who will preach nothing but the gospel, nothing but Christianity, to raise prejudice against him and prevent people from hearing him. In precisely the same spirit, here comes Rev. N. L. Rice, of heresy-hunting memory, in a tract of forty pages against Campbellism, which the reader may think as he pleases about, but which is as much against the religion of Christ, and those trying to receive it, practice it, and maintain it, and it alone, as was in the power of Dr. Rice to make it, without, in so many words, saying so. No man in this country, at this time, can preach simply the gospel of Christ in the name of the Lord, under any other name, and maintain the law of God, as the only rule of faith, without being called a Campbellite, and branded with preaching Campbellism.

THE young man who would become a preacher, while he is receiving knowledge, or obtaining the theory, must ply himself to the work, making a practical use of what he learns. A man may study for years and acquire an immense amount of knowledge, but having no practical use of it, he is as helpless as an infant. In precisely this predicament are thousands who have gone through the manufacturing process of making [158] preachers, without any practical use of all they have learned. Indeed, many of them have learned nothing of consequence, of one of the most important chapters in a real preacher’s learning, viz: “The ways of the world.” The knowledge of the Bible—general “book-learning,” is all right. It is indispensable. But to know man, is equally important. Man must be studied to be known. We must converse with him face to face. We must know the world by actual contact with it. We must know the church by actual observation. We must know the obstructions in the way of truth and righteousness by actual contact with them, with actual and personal efforts to remove them.

Not only so, but the people must know the preacher—see him, hear him, and have personal interviews with him. His work can not be done by proxy. He must go himself and put his own hands to the work. He must be with them and give them a personal example of deportment and religious conversation, read the Bible to them, pray with them in their families, give thanks at their tables, go with them to the place of worship, preach to them and persuade sinners to repent. A man who does not do this, is really no preacher of Christ, and will accomplish nothing for his name.

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CHRISTIANITY literally subverts everything else, sets aside all isms, doctrines and commandments of men of every grade, as the most insignificant childish play. It comes to men, claiming the right to have the attention of all as though all beside were undeserving of any note or any regard whatever. Not only so, but it gives no chance to assail, expose and refute, for it maintains nothing but the Bible, but Christianity, but what God has given by inspiration and proved by supernatural signs and wonders, accompanied with gifts of the Holy Spirit, which all its assailants have to admit true! Can we expect to present the only true religion; the religion of Jesus Christ itself; the only true system; Christianity itself; the only revelation from God; that contained in the Bible; the only authority of God; the authority of the Word of God; the only true doctrine; the Gospel of Christ itself; and declare everything else unauthorized—null and void; hindrances to the progress of truth and righteousness; to the edification of saints and the conversion of the world, and meet no opposition? Not rationally. The watchmen on the old party walls of their little Zions will see the tendency of all this. They will see—they can not help seeing—that precisely in proportion as we succeed in fixing the attention of the people upon God, his authority, his Son, our gracious Redeemer and Savior, his word, his law, his [160] religion, as a distinct, complete and perfect system, with all the power, grace, wisdom, mercy, benevolence, and authority of the Almighty in it, calling the attention of man to it as the only medium of salvation, all their systems must necessarily lose their attraction, their command and influence, and hasten to ruin. Many of these watchmen are pledged for life, too bigoted to look if they may be mistaken, too obstinate, and self-willed to yield, and will oppose to the last.

IF a man has a leading object in view, no matter whether religious or worldly, let him come out in his proper color, declare his object, and drive directly at it. If a man has a favorite political scheme let him declare it, publish a paper advocating it, or maintain it in public addresses; but not under the name of Christian; not in the name of the Lord, nor under a pretence of preaching Christ; for this would be a manifest imposition, no matter how good the political doctrine. But every attempt to make the religion of Christ auxiliary to political ends, is a perversion, and in direct opposition to the whole spirit and entire bearing of the Lord’s own reply, when charged with being a political aspirant. When arraigned before Pilate, and charged with claiming to be a king, he explained the matter, and obviated the charge, [161] or set it aside, by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.” John xviii. 36. While he frankly admitted that he was a king, and that he came into the world to bear witness to the truth, he set aside all ground of suspicion against him, as an aspirant to the throne, or any other part in the civil government, or one who would in any way meddle in the civil institutions of his country, by declaring that his kingdom is not of this world. This declaration was no evasion, but a clear, important and divine truth, and must be shown in the lives of the disciples of Christ, by following his example, or the cause will suffer immeasurably.

Our Lord was so careful to keep his kingdom and his mission distinct from civil affairs, that when he was appealed to, to arbitrate a dispute touching an inheritance, he inquired, who made him an arbiter in such matters, or where was there any authority for him to step aside from his mission, or, rather, pervert his mission and his office from their high, spiritual and divine object, to a worldly, temporal and business object. He was so careful to keep his mission distinct from the world, and worldly relations, that when engaged in the work of his mission, he refused to recognize a fleshly relation—his own mother, brother and sister. In his kingdom he recognized no fleshly relation, as a basis for any application to him, or a reason for his institution conferring any benefit on any human being, not excepting his own [162] mother, according to the flesh. Those who do the will of God, regardless of all fleshly ties, political conditions, or worldly circumstances, whether male or female, bond or free, are mother, sister or brother, to the Redeemer and Savior of man. So perfectly distinct did our Lord and the apostles keep their mission from politics that there is not the remotest hint that they ever participated in civil affairs, in a single instance, in the whole of the sacred record. They either never participated in politics in any way, or else looked upon the whole matter as so distinct from their mission and work, as not to be once mentioned in the whole Christian revelation. So distinct is the New Testament from political institutions, that it contains not one word of instruction to civil officers, in regard to their duties, not one hint what kind of men we should vote for, or what form of government we should favor. It simply enjoins that Christians “obey every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake:” “submit to the powers that be; for the powers that be are ordained of God,” and declares that “rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil”; that “the ruler is the minister of God, and bears not the sword in vain.”

The Christian law enjoins that we “follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” It is not enjoined that we follow peace with a political party, but “peace with all men,” and holiness. The Lord said, “Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” The angels of God shouted when Jesus was born, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will toward man.” Shall that religion enjoining its adherents to “follow peace with all men,” promising a blessing upon the [163] peace-makers, whose divine Author was introduced into the world, with an angelic shout of “peace on earth,” be made an instrument in the hands of a misguided and worldly priesthood, in the political strifes of the world? If it shall, we betide him who does it. It will kill every preacher and every church that ever had the Spirit of God in them, to do it. Indeed, all of this description are now dead. Not a man nor a church among them, throughout the length and breadth of the country, is doing anything for the cause of God. Not a sinner is converted by them, nor a saint comforted. Many of them, old men, that formerly had the spirit of the Lord, preached Christ with great power, with their souls full of the love of God, converted sinners, edified and comforted the children of God, now sit in the company of worldlings, read and discuss politics on the Lord’s day, while the house of God is forsaken.

Our mission is to preach Christ, Christianity, and to disentangle it from all connection with these side-artifices, devised to draw men away from the Lord. We have only alluded to slavery, and the excitement about it, so far as to discover the proper course for a christian, but not to discuss its merits, as a system, at all. In doing this, we have simply applied to it the rule that we do to all questions of the kind, viz: To inquire for the course pursued by the Lord, the apostles, and the first Christians, and follow it as infallibly safe and right. In doing this, we have certainly shown that those warring upon us in this matter, have no commission from heaven, from Christ, or his apostles, or, in anything in all their lives and practice. We shall, therefore, as far as God shall enable us, preach the pure gospel of the grace of [164] God, both North and South, East and West, to all, both great and small, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free; and thus labor to bring them into the kingdom that is not of this world—a kingdom that can not be moved—where the pure in heart can enjoy God, his Holy Spirit, and his people, though the wicked rule and the civil governments are corrupt, with the blessed assurance that they shall one day be delivered from all the perplexities of an imperfect and sinful state. Here we must all turn our attention at last.

Civil governments can never be perfected. They will always be working wrongs and cruelties some place. The wisdom and power of man can not avoid this. The wickedness and selfishness of men, also, are in the way, so that the civil institutions of the country can never be perfected; and he has studied Christianity to but little purpose, who thinks its aim to be the perfection of the human contrivances of the world. It looks above this, to the purification and perfection of individuals, in their regeneration and personal sanctification, and preparation for a better state. It does not, like some fleshly systems, look upon this world as man’s all; but, as momentary, a pilgrim state, not our home, not our continued city, but merely the preparatory state to a better world. How soon this world will all be nothing to all these political wranglers, who have suffered themselves to be made tools for political parties, to the neglect of the church of God, without one soul ever being able to see that all their noise, ever did any good in any way. How silly it is, as well as unchristian, for old friends, neighbors and brethren to disagree and fall out about the [165] intricate and deceptive schemes of political wire-workers. Such men are doing no good for their church or country. The very circumstance of their falling out with their best friends, shows that they are insane upon the very subject upon which they propose to enlighten the world, and, of all men in the world, the most unsafe, to guide either church or state.

LOOKING at the eternal benefits Christianity has conferred upon us, and the rich inheritance it proposes to confer in the world to come, the little a poor mortal can do in a short lifetime sinks into nothingness, and deserves not to be mentioned. When we think of him who became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich—that he became a little lower than the angels, that he, by the grace of God, should taste of death for every man—that he had not where to lay his head—that he died for us—think of the holy apostles and martyrs of Jesus, with all their labors and sufferings—all we do, or can do, dwindles into perfect insignificance. To God, over all, blessed for ever and ever, through Jesus Christ, we owe eternal gratitude, praises and thanksgiving that he has ever received us and permitted us to labor in his gracious cause at all. To his name be honor and power everlasting.

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THE boundary line of repentance. Life is the boundary line of repentance. What the Scriptures call “time,” contains the whole period during which man can turn to God. “To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the bitter provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.” If we are ever molded into the image of Christ, made conformable to his death, and prepared for the society of the blessed, it must be while we are in time. To show that we are inside of the clear revelations of God, we shall make two or three references to the New Testament. One man, more curious to know the fate of the masses, than his own duty to God and man, in our Lord’s lifetime asked him: “Lord are there few that be saved?” To this the Lord responded: “Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” Luke xiii. 23, 24. He then proceeds to the time when this shall be, as follows: “When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence you are.” In reply, they make an appeal to the fact that the Lord had been accustomed to eat and drink in their streets. He replies, “I know you not whence you are; depart from me all ye workers [167] of iniquity.” This must be after death, for He refers to the future, “When ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out,” or thrust away. It is after death, because the Master of the house has never risen up and shut to the door of the kingdom, in this life. As we sing sometimes, “The doors of gospel grace stand open night and day.” None, in this life, stand and knock at the door, crying, Lord, Lord, open to us, whom the Master refuses to receive. His language now is, “Whoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.” “He who cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” “He who seeks shall find; to him who knocks, it shall be opened,” and “whoever calls upon the Lord shall be saved.” But the time will come, when the Lord shall have arisen and shut the door, and men shall stand without, knocking and crying, Lord, open to us; but He refuses them admittance and thrusts them away, declaring that He never approved them.—Nothing like this can be found in this life. It refers to the time when the fear of the wicked cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish shall overtake them; then shall they call upon the Lord, but He will not answer them. See Prov. i. 26, 27.

Another passage to which we refer, to show that death is the boundary line of repentance, is the case of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke xvi. 19, 31. This rich man died, “and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.” Here we find a man in torments after death. Lazarus has also died, and been carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom. Dives, once the rich man, but now a beggar, looks up and seeth Abraham afar off, [168] and Lazarus in his bosom, and cries to him, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.” Now, the question of repentance, or obtaining relief from punishment after death, is fairly before us. In a case stated by our Lord himself, an application is made for the mitigation of torment after death. But what is the response of Abraham, who speaks in the place of the Almighty, here? It is, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.” Here are two men after death, one comforted and the other tormented. Can any change be made in their condition? Let us hear Abraham. He then proceeds: “Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they who would pass from hence to you can not; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.” This is an end of all change of condition. In that world there is no turning to God nor falling from grace. The rich man, then despairing of any mitigation of his torments, or change of his condition, makes one more appeal to Abraham. “I pray thee, therefore,” said he, “that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house; for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” Having fallen into torments, on account of his unbelief, and having five brethren also unbelievers, he desired testimony presented to them from the dead, lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham answers, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.” The rich man persists: “If one went unto[169] them from the dead, they will repent.” This is the only New Testament account of a request for a departed spirit to be sent to our world to lead sinners to repentance; but this request, coming from one already in the torments of a wicked man after death, was refused in the following words: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” This shows that God will allow no means employed to save sinners save only those of his own appointment, and writes the seal of condemnation upon all visitations of the spirits of dead people to save sinners.

The next and only passage more to which we shall refer, to show the boundary line of repentance, is Rev. xxii. 11, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” This is an end of all repentance, of all turning to God, and also an end to all departing from him. The holy shall remain holy, and the wicked remain wicked, from this time forward. Jesus made his personal efforts to save man in this world. When he left the world, he committed to the apostles the ministry and word of reconciliation, and they made their efforts in this world. All the means ever employed to save man, have been employed in this life. All the cases of acceptable repentance that we have ever known anything about, were in this life. If, therefore, men ever turn to God, it must be in time.

We proceed in the third place, to consider the state of man between death and resurrection. There were, in the days of our Lord’s pilgrimage, a class of materialists, who not only denied the resurrection of the dead, but that there was an angel or spirit. Many [170] were the debates which they had with the Pharisees who differed with them upon these three points. Knowing that our Lord had sanctioned the doctrine of the Pharisees, that there were angels and spirits, and would be a resurrection of the dead, the Sadducees approached the Lord with the puzzle, touching the resurrection of the woman and seven husbands. As if they had said, “Now, Master, you agree with the Pharisees, and teach that there will be a resurrection of the dead; but this doctrine involves a difficulty; for a certain woman, in the course of her life, had seven husbands, and we should be pleased to know which one shall have her in the resurrection?” Our Lord soon explains this matter. He says, “In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God.” He proceeds, “Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him.” While those departed from this life, are dead to us, they are alive to God—“for all live unto Him.” “The inner man,” as Paul calls him, or “the hidden man of the heart,” as Peter styles him which is eternal, “not corruptible,” but immortal, which Jesus says, man is not able to kill, though separated from us, or dead to us, is alive to God, “for all live unto Him.” See Luke xx. 27–38.

The Transfiguration of Christ presents us the three states, the fleshly, the intermediate, and the resurrection, or eternal state, all at once. The Lord is changed into the glorified state, is seated upon the throne, as we would see him to-day, if we were before him in heaven. [171] Hence Peter says, “We were eye witnesses of His majesty, for he received from God the Father, honor, and glory, when there came such a voice from the excellent glory. ‘This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” On this august occasion, Peter, James and John represented the fleshly state. They were present in the flesh. Moses was here, not in the flesh, for he had died some fifteen centuries before this. He was not in the resurrection state, for Christ was the first-born from the dead of every creature, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. But he was in the intermediate state, or the man Moses was there separate from the body; alive, conscious, and held a conversation with the Lord, in regard to his great sufferings to be accomplished at Jerusalem. Though Moses had been dead to the world fifteen hundred years, and his body mingled and lost in the dust, he was alive to God all this time, and so are all the dead. He had not lost his identity, nor his name, but is known and mentioned as the man Moses, in a conscious state, seeing, hearing and talking. Our friend, so much loved, lamented, but now dead to us, is alive to God, and as conscious, and maintaining his identity as much as when here in the body. Another dignitary present at the transfiguration, was Elijah, who was taken to heaven without seeing death. He was in the glorified state, in the body, glorified, spiritual, as all the bodies of the blessed are. Probably the Lord took him to heaven without seeing death, in view of this very occasion. What a grand scene is now before us. The Lord of the universe is before us upon the throne; the old prophet Elijah, stands before him who was the great prophet of all the [172] authority, before the witnesses of Christ. Here stands Moses, the Law-giver of ancient Israel, and recognizes the Lord Jesus Christ, and surrenders up all authority to him. Just at this wonderful and interesting moment, the Almighty from the upper world, called out, “This is my Son, the beloved in whom I am well pleased: hear him.”

Let us hear Paul once, on this subject. “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” In a few words, he says, “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him.” 2 Cor. v. 9. How could we be “present with the Lord,” and “accepted of Him,” when absent from the body, if there be not an inner spiritual man, who will exist separate, or absent from the body? No man living can ever reconcile this passage with the preposterous theory, that when a man dies, he has no conscious existence. To this we add only one more scripture. When John, in the Island of Patmos, was in awful and sublime vision, and saw the whole panorama of the future ages passing in review, he says, “I saw under the altar, the souls of them who were beheaded for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, and they cried and said, how long, O Lord God Almighty, holy, just and true, dost thou not avenge us of our blood on them who dwell on the earth.” Here were souls, alive, looking back to what had been done on earth, and looking forward to what would be done in future. They had not lost their identity nor memory, forgotten the past nor distrusted the future, but were alive. The intermediate state is, therefore, a [173] conscious state, the righteous are comforted, and at rest with the Lord, in Abraham’s bosom, or Paradise; the wicked are in Tartareous, in prison, tormented, reserved unto the judgment of the great day, with the angels that sinned.

In the fourth, and last place, let us take one look forward to the eternal, or resurrection state. Looking to the close of the intermediate state, John says, “I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no more place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of these things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Rev. xx. 10–12. After thus presenting the dead in judgment, he proceeds to tell us where they came from, as follows: “And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works.” The Greek hades, here translated hell, simply means the invisible, or unseen state. In this invisible state, the book of God reveals two distinct, or separate apartments. One is Paradise, the other is Tartareous. In this same book of Revelations, John, speaking in the person of Christ, says, “I am he who was dead and am alive forevermore; I have the keys of hell and of death; I can open and no man can shut, and shut and no man can open.” The amount of this is, that I have the keys or power, to open the grave, and raise the bodies both from land and sea, and I have the power to open the invisible state, both Paradise and Tartareous, and bring forth the spirits of [174] the dead, both righteous and wicked, re-uniting soul and body, to stand in judgment. When the last righteous sentence is passed upon man, in the last judgment, the final separation follows. Whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Here is the last account of the wicked, the incorrigible, and we must leave them where God leaves them without any attempt to dwell upon their deplorable and irremediable condition.

Let us now turn our attention to the righteous—the good and virtuous of all ages—those who feared God and worked righteousness in every nation. John says, “I saw them coming from every nation, kindred, tongue, tribe and people, who had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and they shouted, blessing and glory, and honor, and might, and dominion unto him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb, for ever and ever!” And again they shouted, Hallelujah to the Lamb! The Lord God Omnipotent reigns! John looks again, and says, “I John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, for the former things are passed away.” Shall we who are bathed in tears, here to-day, reach the holy city, where we shall be called to pass through the deep waters of affliction no more; [175] where we shall hear the groans of the sick and dying no more; where there will be no visiting of the sick, nor funeral occasions; where we shall no more be called to give up fathers and mothers in death, husbands or wives, or precious children; but where the wounded heart shall be made whole, the weary spirit shall be at rest, and the mourner comforted. How ineffable the bliss! How unutterable the joys! of a state where we shall not only be free from all the afflictions that encompass us here, but see the Lord and dwell with him forevermore! How invaluable the rich boon proposed to man, through the Lord Jesus Christ! What everlasting obligations we are under to love God and serve him! Let us put our everlasting trust in the Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

IT is an unfavorable step toward “educating a man up to the importance of being buried with his Lord and Master in baptism,” to set the law of God requiring it aside, and receive him without it. This would only lead him to doubt whether we saw or cared for the importance of it ourselves. It never can have a good influence on any sensible man to see religious people so anxious to get him into their party as to set aside their own established principles, and what they hold to be clearly the law of God, for a man not willing to submit to the law of [176] induction into the heavenly family. This is not liberality, but disloyalty all around. It is not a question about what we will do, but what the Lord will do.

Mere refinement and respectability have nothing to do in the matter. It is a matter of faith and respect to the supreme and absolute authority. Has a man the faith, the humility and the obedient spirit that will learn of Jesus and yield to what he requires? We are not vying with any people in this country in efforts to be liberal and easy in our views and practice, but we desire to see who can live nearest to the Lord and follow him most closely. He laid down the law of induction, or the law for receiving members, and we have no discretionary power in the matter. We do not make the terms, but simply exhort men to comply with them, as found in the Book of God.

THE American people are so familiar with the name and character of Henry Ward Beecher, that no explanation of what follows, is needed by the present generation. Beecher is the most gifted and noted liberalist and progressionist in America. He is out at sea, without chart or compass. The movements of the wind, and the motion of the current, determine his course. He cares not whither he sails or where [177] he lands, or whether he lands at all or not, so that the breeze is pleasant and the waves smooth. His great mind, glib tongue, and tireless pen, have enabled him to unsettle and pervert the faith of thousands of honest and unsuspecting people. Even some preachers among the disciples, who are noted for their adherence to the fixed principles of revealed religion, have been seduced by Beecher. The good providence of God, in time, revealed the true character of the man of no faith, and men now see it blackened and tarnished by crime and immorality. Let the liberalists and progressionists among the disciples of Christ, take warning from the downfall of the far famed Beecher.

Scandal has come; disgrace and shame that would make any conscience, not seared with a hot iron, tingle; or any face, not past feeling, blush. But the Bible is no way responsible for it, not even in appearance. Beecher was no Bible man. Bible men were not his admirers, nor the men that gathered around him, that liked him only the more for his broad views, his liberality, when he pronounced that beautiful benediction on the Pope, “God bless his old soul,” and said he could commune with the Pope, or worship at a pagan altar; declared that there is not a particle of divine authority, in any church in the world; that he was inspired as much as the apostles; and would baptize a man every month if he desired it; that there is no authority for infant baptism; but he was for it now stronger than ever, because it was a good thing—it had been tried! This man identified with the Bible? Not a word of it. The Bible is responsible for none of the scandal and disgrace that hang upon him and must hang there forever. No, not a word [178] of it, you unbelieving man; we turn all over to you; we have here a specimen of your work; unbelief; what it can do in a short time; how it can drag a man down, and the ruin to which it can bring him. Here is the fruit of unbelief; he can eat of it, and all unbelievers can view it, and see what comes of a man that contemns the Bible and puts its authority at defiance.

Gentlemen, unbelievers, if you like to view the results of unbelief, and the ruin that follows in its train, come up here and see what it has done in the case of an illustrious man; a man whose fame has extended throughout the civilized world; a man of wonderful versatility of thought, and immense gifts as a speaker and writer, with such an opening as no other man on the continent had. This man had reached mature years, and his influence had become so great, that many good people would not hear a word against him, nor believe that his terrible skeptical talk meant any harm. It was only independence. But, in the midst of such a career of popularity, and that not of an ephemeral character either, as no other man in this nation ever had, up springs trouble in the midst of his most intimate friends, and those he knew better, and had associated with more intimately than any others. It comes not from persecutors without, nor from enemies or envious preachers within, but his most intimate friends, who know him better than all others.

But, why do not infidels make an ado about infidels falling? They never fall! They have never attained to anything from which they can fall. They are at the bottom and there is nothing below them to which they can [179] fall. We know of a case where an infidel has recently covered himself all over with slime, but nothing of consequence is said about it. Why not? If he had been a preacher of the gospel his case would have been published half round the world before now. But he is an infidel, and the idea of purity is not associated with infidelity, in the public mind. There is no noise about it. His brethren, infidels, bring him to no trial, call him to no account, appoint no committee, and have no examination of the case! Why not? He professed nothing, and they profess nothing. Such things do not disgrace them, or bring scandal on them.

THE opponents of the truth will catch every unkind or unpleasant word; every unlovely expression or harsh sentence, and comment on it, in the absence of argument, and even divert attention from the main matter. We should, then, simply study how to present the truth, in the clearest, most agreeable and acceptable manner; how to show people the truth, convince them and enlist their souls in it. This is the great matter to study, and not how to avoid differences and not discuss them at all. We are studying how to practice this, and we desire all the friends of the Lord to study it and give the adversary no advantage.

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SCEPTICS float in thin ether, if not some times in pure vacuum, in vast, unknown and unknowable regions of pure fancy and idle imagination. They roam in everlasting inquisitiveness in the immense realms of intangibles and invisibles. They are variously styled in New Testament terminology, “clouds without water,” “wandering stars,” “filthy dreamers,” etc., etc. They spend their time, confuse themselves and shatter their brains, in explaining “degrees in glory,” “degrees in punishment,” “different spheres,” “the possibility of holding converse with departed friends,” “the origin of sin,” “how God will overrule evil for the good of man and his own glory,” “the origin of the devil, if there be any,” or, “who made the devil,” or, “whether he is a real being, or only a personification of evil,” “whether God did not know, when he created man, that he would sin,” “why he created man, knowing that he would sin,” “whether he did not know, when he made man, who would be saved and who would be lost,” and, if he did, “why he created those he knew would be lost,” “whether angels are a distinct order of beings from men,” “whether we shall know each other in the eternal state,” “with what body the dead will be raised,” “whether the righteous and wicked will rise at the same time,” “where the spirit is [181] between death and the resurrection,” “whether it is conscious, or can exist separate from the body,” “when the end of the world will be,” etc., etc.

We have now an immense swarm of these idle dreamers; some of these have already reasoned themselves into the hallucination that they are in the New Jerusalem state, and that the christian dispensation, or the mediatorial reign of our Lord Jesus Christ has passed away! These idle away their time in discussing the ascension, through the different grades of spheres, which they imagine they shall eternally be attaining and passing through, with other kindred topics. Another class reason themselves into absolute fatalism. With them, all the actions of men, and the very thoughts that lead to them, are of necessity, and cannot be anything else! There is no praise of one class, or condemnation of another, for all do just what they do from an eternal necessity! Off, at another angle, another party is found, theorizing upon the whimsical notion of human pre-existence, in which state, they think a consistent origin for sin may be found! Yet another class perceive, that deep down in the Bible, where, till recently, none had ever penetrated, the doctrine is found, that, at judgment, the wicked will be stricken out of existence, thus ridding them of the idea of endless punishment, which had previously given them much distress! Still another class of these, have rid themselves of the same distressing and annoying doctrine, by making the astonishing discovery, that there is no devil, no hell, nor punishment of any kind, beyond the present state, and, therefore, no danger of any endless punishment! Still another class [182] became perplexed with these metaphysical reasonings, subtleties and theorizings, in things that they cannot help feeling conscious can have no possible beneficial effects upon mankind, and rid themselves of the entire concern, by making the discovery that all things come by chance, that there is no God, Savior, angel or spirit, and death is an eternal sleep! But we sicken at the effort of trying to describe the vain and idle speculations of all these “wandering stars,” and shall proceed to something more tangible.

Scepticism has no foundation, no basis, no reality upon which to rest. It has nothing to build upon; no rock; no pillars of any kind. Nor has it any materials or builders. Nothing can be built without a foundation, materials and builders. Sceptics are not builders. Their work is merely pulling down old buildings. This is the reason they make so much show; their work is easy, requires but little skill and no goodness. Anybody can tear down, but it takes a workman to build. Scepticism is a mere negative, consisting wholly of denials. It affirms nothing, establishes nothing, and builds up nothing. It is a natural impossibility to build upon a mere negative. A system cannot, in the very nature of things, be built upon a mere denial—a mere negative. If a man would deny, repudiate, and condemn all the foundations of all the houses in his city, or if he would go and tear his neighbor’s foundations all down, it would give him no foundation for a house, but would simply put them in the same condition with himself—that is, without any foundation. In the same way, if infidels could successfully deny, disprove and overthrow the foundation of every [183] system of religion in the world, it would lay no foundation for them, but would simply put the rest of us upon a level with them—that is, without any foundation. The work of all sceptics has been, simply to tear up the foundation of Christians, and not to lay any foundation for themselves. Not a man in all the ranks of unbelief has ever presented any foundation, or has any. Their entire clamor is against the Bible, but if they could expunge the Bible from the universe, they are no better off—they have nothing to stand upon.

Scepticism has no center of attraction, no gravitation, no great central pervading idea, drawing everything to one common center. A system must have a common center of attraction, holding it, in its revolutions, from flying into atoms. But, scepticism has no pervading idea, doctrine or constitution, in which everything centers, around which everything revolves, with power to attract and bind. It consists, simply in denials of what others believe. If the things which they deny were untrue, and should be denied, the denial of them is no foundation or center of attraction. Their denial amounts to nothing in their favor, but is simply unfavorable to others—destructive of the attraction binding others together. A million of the most unequivocal denials of the most absurd and preposterous doctrines the world ever contained, forms no center of attraction, doctrine or constitution, in which is embodied and concentrated any principal of attraction that can bind in a system. Denying simply frees men and cuts them loose, in their own estimation, from that which they deny, or what others believe, but binds them to nothing. [184]

Scepticism has no law, gives no advice, and has nothing in it about the characters of men. It does not say that a man shall, or shall not, have a good character; that he shall or shall not have a bad character. It contains no such words and has no such idea, or keeps up no such distinctions as good and bad. It says nothing about love and hatred, revenge and pity, covetousness and benevolence, vice and virtue, happiness and misery. It contains not one sentence touching all the relations in life, providing nothing for individuals, families or nations. It consists of one negative principle, viz: The denial of the truth of the Christian religion. Any man can see that there is no law in this. If they could succeed in this denial, and show beyond all contradiction that christianity is not true, it amounts to nothing. It is no law, and accomplishes nothing in any way, only to bring christians upon a level with them—with precisely nothing.

Scepticism has no rewards for the good. It promises nothing in this world nor that which is to come. It holds out no rewards, no inducements of any kind for the good, in time or eternity!

Scepticism has no punishments for the bad, here nor hereafter. It contains no punishments for evil doers—the profligate, dissipated, and corrupt; thieves, robbers and murderers. It knows nothing of crimes or punishments for crimes, of any grade or atrocity.

Scepticism has no reformatory power. A denial, or a train of denials, even denials of error, can never restrain sinners nor reform men. The influence is simply negative. In the very nature of things, it cannot act positively. Denials or negatives require nothing, give nothing, [185] and, as a matter of course, can produce no reformation. It is a negative system, if we may be allowed to call it a system at all, and in the very nature of things, its influence must be negative. It is like cold, which is simply the absence of heat; for the suffering, in the absence of heat, is from want of heat. Scepticism is simply the absence of the heat of christianity. Darkness is merely the absence of light, or it is the negative of light, else it and light could exist at the same time, in the same place. In precisely the same way, scepticism is the absence of gospel light, or faith. The soul without faith is empty, cold, dark, and hungry, suffering and perishing, for light, heat and food. Scepticism is no system, not a reality, substance or entity of any kind, but the absence of all these. To speak in general terms of faith, both christian faith and all other faith, the absence of it, would be the absence by far of the greater part of all we know, or that may be known by man. There is nothing more certain than that a man who knows much, must believe much. Scepticism is not the possession of reformatory principles, but simply the absence of them. There is nothing that a man can be more conscious of, than that scepticism never did, and never can, make a man better. Inherently, there is nothing in it. It is the absence of something. The mere absence of faith, of religion, doctrine and principles, most indisputably can do a man no good, and can have no power to save him in any sense. To speak of saving a man from starving by the absence of food, saving him from thirst by the absence of water, or from darkness by the absence of light, or from sickness by the absence of the only medicine that could [186] save him, is not more absurd, than to speak of unbelief reforming man. Scepticism is not heat, but the absence of it; not light, but the absence of it; not faith, but the absence of it; not knowledge, but the absence of it; not medicine, but the absence of it; not nourishment, but the absence of it. The sceptic is a man perishing with cold, while he is graciously offered the warmth of christianity; groping in darkness while the light of heaven is as free for him as the rays of the sun; starving, with an invitation to eat of the bread that comes down from heaven; dying with thirst, while God is holding out to him the water of life; a sick man refusing to take an infallible remedy from the physician, simply exercising the power to reject all that could do him any good, resting, refusing, denying and dying.

IN the kingdom of God the Lord is the center. He said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me.” “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The great apostle to the Gentiles, after giving a brief summary of side considerations, and many of them weighty, in his situation, says of [187] them all, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse that I may win Christ.” Phil. iii. 8. Again, said this man of God, “I determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified.” He would not be drawn aside from the center of attraction in the kingdom of God. In the close of his elaborate letter to the Corinthians, among whom many distracting annoyances were operating, and in reference to those who disturbed the peace and love of the church, he declares that “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he will be accursed when the Lord comes.” I. Cor. xvi. 22. “Whoever hateth his brother, is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” John iii. 15. Again, says the holy apostle, “These be they who separate themselves sensual, having not the spirit.” James xix. The Lord says, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.”

From him who thus teaches, we are not to be drawn aside, whether we precisely agree upon every side question, or the manner of procedure in reference to it or not. By him we must stand forever more. To him we must pay supreme homage. This can only be done by standing firmly upon his precise teachings, as far as poor, imperfect creatures possibly can, and putting our everlasting trust in him. The cause is now progressing, its prospects brightening, and its way opening beautifully in almost all directions. The good, the reliable, the faithful and working men, are gathering up afresh, combining and accumulating strength, which will be expended upon the armies of the enemy around, [188] with tremendous effect. Let every man who can lift a Bible speak a word, or give an expression of countenance, for the Lord, and for his work, do it; do it with earnestness, spirit and power; do it with strong faith and determination, and it will tell upon the world for good, in ages to come. Let us make an effort, united, energetic and mighty, in the Lord’s name, for his cause; and let the effort continue while the Lord shall give us life, and exhort the brethren to push it onward with our dying breath. To his name, be honor and power, everlasting.

GOD has created man with credulity, or the ability to believe; he has graciously given us the truth, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, to belief; with the divine testimony that incontestably proves the truth. But he does not compel any man to read the testimony, to hear it read, to examine it, try to understand and appreciate it. He lays it before the world, and demands of the nations to hear it. It is like all the other blessings God has afforded man; it must be sought, inquired after and received, or do men no good. Men may be none the better of its ever entering into the world. It may be that God has created a rich mine of gold in some part of the earth. One man seeks [189] all the information he can obtain, in reference to it, becomes satisfied of its richness and accessibility; he makes a proper effort and obtains a fortune. Another man, with equally as good endowments, treats the whole question with indifference to it. Without examining the testimony, he pronounces all delusion, humbuggery, a chimera, and ridicules it, and the man that seeks information, or inquires into it. What good will the gold mine do him? None whatever. So far as he is concerned, it might as well never have been created.

But, it fares infinitely worse than this with him who treats with indifference the pearls of Jesus Christ. He who prefers the darkness of this world to the light of the Son of God, turns away his ears from the holy and lovely lessons of the benevolent Redeemer, refuses to inform himself in reference to Him, to whom God requires all nations to be attentive, incurs a responsibility for which he will certainly answer at the most solemn tribunal. He who turns his back upon the Lord of heaven and earth, when we would call attention to him, not only loses or forfeits the benefits proposed through him, but incurs censure for indifference, ingratitude and disrespect, if not contempt of his Creator and merciful Benefactor. God has created him with a heart to believe, given the truth, and furnished the testimony to convey it to the understanding, and holds him responsible for the exercise of his abilities. Come, then, dear reader, and let us fix our minds upon Jesus of Nazareth, and carefully consider his claims upon our attention. The whole question is about him. What do you think of him whom we claim as the Savior of the world? Do you love him and those like him? Or, are you opposed to him?

[190]

WE take it as Wesley did, that “by one Spirit,” is by the direction of one Spirit, we are all immersed into one body. It is clear that the baptism alluded to is the initiatory rite, for there is no other baptism into one body. The immersion in the Spirit is not into one body, or into anything. At the house of Cornelius they were immersed into Christ after they had been immersed in the Holy Spirit. The immersion in the Spirit was to convince Peter and his Jewish brethren that God intended to receive the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Hence, when Peter, in his rehearsal of the matter to his Jewish brethren, when he came to this, exclaims, “What was I that I should withstand God?”

The “one baptism” of Paul is the initiatory rite—the baptism of the Commission, connected with the faith and repentance for the remission of sins, and will remain as long as there is one to believe, repent or seek remission of sins. The faith, repentance, confession, immersion and remission of sins stand connected in the gospel of the grace of God, and we see not how any man can be so perverted as to try to evade any one of these items.

[191]

THE Bible is not the disturbing element, or property that prevents fusion, for all the sects have the Bible, speak well of it and commend it. They all bold the Bible in common. It is well received among all denominations. The Bible is not, then, the divisive element, or the repellent property among them that renders fusion impossible.

The Lord is not the repellent element, or property that prevents fusion, for they all speak well of him. Indeed, they all claim to have him with them and to love him.

The Holy Spirit is not the disturbing element, or property, for they all speak well of him, and claim to love him and to have him dwelling in them.

What, then, is the repellent property among them that prevents fusion, or union? It is this very pet, dear and precious creature that they all press to their hearts, guard so sacredly, and love so dearly, and hold on to as to life itself—denominationalism. This is the element, the corroding element, the foreign property, that will not fuse. It is constitutionally a rebel against union. It is antagonistic and repellent. What is it that makes the denomination? It is that which is peculiar to it. It is not the Bible that makes a Methodist, nor the love of the Bible, nor anything in it, for the Presbyterian has the [192] Bible, loves it, and all that is in it, as well as the Methodist. It does not make him a Methodist. It is not the Lord, for the Presbyterian receives the Lord as fully as the Methodist, and the Lord does not make him a Methodist. It is not the Holy Spirit, for all the first Christians received the Holy Spirit, and they were not Methodists; there never was a Methodist before John Wesley.

What, then, is it that makes the Methodist? It is simply that which is peculiar to Methodists, and that which is not received by a Presbyterian. What is it that makes a Presbyterian? That which is peculiar to Presbyterians, and not received by Methodists. Why, then, can not Methodists and Presbyterians fuse into one mass, or unite? Because the Methodists will not give up Methodism, that which is peculiar to Methodists; and the Presbyterian will not give up the Presbyterianism, or that which is peculiar to Presbyterians. That which is peculiar, makes the denomination; it is the disturbing element in the way of fusion, or union, and that must be given up, or union can never take place.

The Lord prayed that those who believe may be one, that the world may believe. This denominationalism is the very element in the way of union, or the cause of division, and division is in the way of the world believing, or a main cause of the world not being converted. The way is now opened for carrying the Bible into all the world and turning the world to God. Shall that ever be done, or shall our power be expended in sending denominations into the countries now open for the one pure and holy religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Or, can [193] we not now, under the influence of the love of Christ, receive the one religion of the New Testament and nothing else; unite on it, and carry it to Italy, and every other country now in Divine Providence, opened up for the reception of King Jesus? What need we care for denominations? The body of Christ, the church of the Living God, the kingdom of God, is denomination enough for a man who loves the Savior; and the Book of God, containing the law of God and the gospel too, is creed enough for all who sincerely love our Lord Jesus, the Christ. What a grand and glorious work could be performed, if, all in good earnest in the work would unite under God, put their hearts into the work and determine to push the cause of Christ, the gospel of the grace of God, the kingdom of God, through the world. We have one book, a book no where in doubt—the volume of God, the Bible, and, can all with one heart, and one soul, push it through the world, enforce it on men to read it, teach it to others, and make it the great power in the earth, to break down and wipe out Romanism; to sweep away all pagan gods, temples, and altars, and all sectarian denominations, and unite all the friends of the Lord under Prince Messiah; let him go before them, lead and guide them forever and ever. What is a mere denomination, separated from others by some peculiarities not mentioned in the Bible, nor received by any other party on earth, compared with what the Lord styles, “my church,” Matt. xvi. 18; the body of Christ; the kingdom of God, containing all the people of God? This is what we have in our view; we will go for nothing less than the body of Christ, the kingdom of God. It is of God, the denomination is of man.

[194]

READ the Bible carefully, and note the part the women took, the greatest and best of them, as well as all classes, in the Patriarchal, Jewish and Christian institutions, and follow what you find there. It is safe to follow that, and for the good of all, both men and women. No improvement can be made upon that. As we depart from that we injure all. We desire to see women curtailed in no privilege or blessing; nothing that can make them happy, useful, wise or good. But the less they have to do in the business meetings, the ruling or discipline of the church, the better for them and all concerned. They have a natural and scriptural work to do, and men cannot do that work for them, and men do not lose any of their rights, when not appointed to do the natural and scriptural work of women. In the same way women lose no rights, are excluded from no privilege, nor are they in any way degraded in being limited to their legitimate sphere of operation. The Bible gives women the highest honor they can have, and lays down the road to the highest happiness. It has elevated women from the abject slavery in which Paganism had bound them down, and given them the strong arm of the man to protect and support them. The nearer they follow the Bible, the Lord, and the apostolic teaching the better. This is the road to greatness, happiness and goodness.

[195]

PETER charges the crucifixion on the Jews. But the Jews only instigated it; the Romans, who were Gentiles, executed him. The Jews were the more responsible party, as they persisted in clamoring for his crucifixion, when Pilate, the Roman judge wanted to let him go. The Jews premeditated, designed and instigated the crucifixion; the Romans performed the deed, or were tools in the hands of the Jews and executed the will of the Jews.

But when the matter is more fully comprehended the whole world were represented in the transaction. The entire nation of Israel was represented in the Sandhedrim, and the nations, apart from the Jews, the Gentiles, were represented in the Roman court, and thus all the world was represented and implicated in the awful act of crucifying the Lord of glory.

The Jews were, as we have said, the instigators of the crucifixion, but did not, therefore, have the sole responsibility, as the Gentiles, or the Roman court, had the power to release him and desired to do so, but voluntarily yielded to the wishes of the Jews in giving him up to be crucified, and with their own hands executed him. The Jews had no power to inflict capital punishment without the assent of the Roman court. The Jews were the instigators and the Romans the willing tools to execute their will.

[196]

THE leading method employed anciently to impede the progress of christianity was to persecute its adherents. This scheme of opposition was well tried during the first three centuries of the christian era, but, although it, to some extent, gratified the malice of the persecutors, it was never very successful. There is a very plain reason for this. The tendency of persecution is invariably to lead the disciples of our Lord, to examine the ground of their faith and the value of their profession with great care; and when this is done, there is but little danger of “departing from the holy commandment delivered to us.” Nothing has ever caused men to scrutinize their profession and the whole premises thereof, in such a candid and solemn manner as the severe persecutions imposed upon the early followers of our Lord; and yet it is an important truth, that, during these severe persecutions, apostasies were comparatively few. This is not all. Persecution has always led the true followers of Christ to plead for the claims of the cause with greater power. Men, when speaking in a cause and their lives at stake, speak from the very bottom of their hearts, and exert every power with which they are possessed to make an impression. At such times there is no dull formality, but all is life and interest. Every [197] one feels what he saying and doing. There is no sermonizing, no preaching by the day, but every man carries the cause in his bosom, and labors as for eternity. All this is calculated to defeat the ostensible intention of all persecution, and in the place of impeding the progress of the cause must tend to spread it. Not only so, but persecution has a tendency to diminish worldly-mindedness, and cause the entire affairs of this life to appear transient and fleeting. Its constant bearing, like all sufferings in this life, is to direct the christian mind to another world, where the bondage of corruption shall be put off, and where he shall enjoy pleasures for evermore. Under such circumstances, how the mind is filled with piety, and how the spirit adorns the redeeming love which, through Jesus Christ, has brought the tidings of deliverance! Finding no abatement of persecutions here, no mitigation of suffering, the afflicted pilgrim looks to another world for a home—for a city upon the immovable rock, the maker and builder of which is God, where he anticipates he will enter the eternal rest. In all this, the effect is precisely the opposite of what is intended by persecutors. They intend to cause people to abandon christianity by persecuting them, whereas it only causes them to esteem it more sacred and press it more closely to their hearts.

How perfectly had all worldly considerations dwindled into nothingness when the apostle counted all things but loss, that he might win Christ, and when he estimated the intolerable affliction imposed upon him, light, compared with the eternal weight of glory in prospect! Such heavenly mindedness is the direct tendency of persecution, and only calculated to make the glories of christianity shine with greater [198] luster, and, consequently, serves not the designs of those by whom it is inflicted. It, nevertheless, has been tried in thousands of instances, since the first three centuries, in various parts of the world, even down to quite a modern date, but has never been able to extinguish the light emanating from the lofty fountain of all light and all knowledge. From modern developments, it would seem, that it is now being ascertained by the great opposer of all good, that methods more effectual may be employed, to impede the progress of the gospel, of which we can not now speak in detail. Indifference, however, or a general lack of conscientiousness, is now the order of the day. Anciently, when a doctrine was preached which the people did not believe, they were greatly excited by it. On the other hand, when they did believe it, they moved forward most warmly and energetically. It was the character of the Jewish people to follow their impressions with great tenacity.

To the people of our times, it would seem strange that the preaching of the apostles should have so excited the people. This generation can listen to doctrine entirely adverse to their views, with comparatively little excitement. They will frequently seem scarcely to have heard it. This is because they do not hold themselves responsible for what is taught, nor feel any very deep concern and interest in forming the public mind. They are indifferent to what is taught. This is one of the most dangerous features of our times. It grows to a considerable extent out of reading light trash, of a novel and imaginary character, which throws away every thing sentimental, with all concern about the impression it may make upon the human heart. It destroys concern for [199] one of the most important items in the world, and seems to suppose that our children may, with perfect safety, hear whatever may chance to fall in their path.

When a man becomes indifferent, or falls into such a state as not to care what is taught, he is measurably beyond the reach of all instruction, for he places no value upon instruction. When the gospel of our Lord was first spoken, it moved the souls of those who heard it, and caused them to act most energetically either for or against it. This was because they cared for public sentiment, and were deeply concerned about what was taught. They were really conscientious and felt highly responsible for all their actions. But how different where this feeling of responsibility is lost? The most awful consequences may be referred to, the most terrible appeals may be made, and the most powerful inducements may be placed before them, but Galio like, they are all unheeded and unappreciated. In this case, conscientiousness, if not even consciousness itself, if not entirely lost, is so greatly diminished as entirely to cease to perform its office.

This state of indifference is not confined to the world alone, but has long since entered the precincts of the church. It is in the way of every meeting, of every ordinance, of every discourse, and of every good work. Those under its influence are ever ready to drawl out, “It is of no use”—“it can’t be done”—or, “I do not care anything about it.” Sometimes it is evaded, by objections or some fault being found. How perfectly disheartening all this is to those who desire to do good, and carry forward the conquest of a great and glorious cause. [200]

How few there are who can properly press the claims of christianity, knowing that such an irresponsible and indifferent state of feeling prevails. It is hard to manifest a becoming zeal in the midst of such a state of apathy. Yet he who rightly reasons upon the cause of our Lord, and keeps the subject ever present in his mind, must be moved forward. He can not be discouraged, cowed down, nor deterred. He is invincible in his course. The spirit that burns in his breast is unconquerable. The more he has to contend with, the more grace and ardor of soul he seems to possess. He looks to Jesus, who for the joy set before him, endured the contradiction of sinners, even unto the death of the cross, and yet overcame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He asks the question: Why did our Lord make the good confession before Pontius Pilate? Why did he yield to the ignominious death of the cross? Why did the holy apostles suffer as they did? Why did the first christians wade through floods and flames? Why were they bathed in tears and blood? Why all their zeal and perseverance under all this? Because they endured, by faith seeing him who is invisible. They looked forward to the recompense of reward. They held daily and spiritual communion with God. Their hearts were in heaven, whence, also, they looked for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who that has the grand theme of good tidings and great joy to all people, first announced by angels at the birth of our Lord and Savior, dwelling richly in his heart, can fail to have a burning and a constant zeal to spread the same grand and glorious theme to the ends of the earth, and thus contribute in causing it to bless the nations? [201]

If the winds of heaven and the waves of the sea, if the diseases of the sick and the terrors of death, if the graves of the dead and the gates of hades, were obedient to the mandate of Jesus Christ, and, if the veil of the temple was rent in twain, the rocks were sundered, the earth trembled and the sun was veiled in darkness when the Lord of glory died—should not the human heart always be filled, when his name is mentioned? If the mighty angels fall prostrate at the feet of Jesus, and hasten to perform the most august message at his command, should it not be the delight of those redeemed by his blood, to do his will, that they enter by the gates into the city, and have a right to the tree of life?

Who can, who dare slumber in his presence? Who dare be indifferent to the theme that dwelt upon his gracious lips? When he speaks it is the voice of a king—more, it is the voice of the King of kings and Lord of lords; it is the voice of him who is to bear all rule, all authority and power, until all his enemies are subdued. Heaven is his throne and the earth his footstool. Shall we not adore his name, that he has graciously promised to confess us before his Father and before his angels? To his name be honor and dominion forever and ever.

[202]

WHEN Paul stood in the midst of Mar’s hill, he boldly declared the ignorance and superstition of the Athenians, before the gospel, and stated to them, that “in the times of this ignorance, God winked at,” or that he did not hold them to a strict account. He concedes, here, the principle expressed by the Savior, that where there is but little given there is but little required; and on this ground, admits that God would not deal with them strictly according to their works. But he approaches a different state of things. A change was about to take place in the dealings of God with that people. How is it to be now? The apostle responds, “But now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” In the times of the ignorance before the gospel, this command to all men every where, to repent, did not exist. But, now that the gospel is preached to every creature, he commands all men everywhere to repent. But he does not stop here, but proceeds to give us the reason why God commands men to repent. That reason is not, that there is no day of judgment to come, which might serve as a reason why men need not repent. Why, then, does God now command all men everywhere to repent? The apostle answers, “Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.” It [203] is not strange, with this passage before us, that preaching Universalism never causes anybody to repent. The preachers of that doctrine deny the cause of repentance; and while the Lord calls upon men to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, they spend their time in preaching that there will be no judgment to come. In this they set aside the grand reason why men should repent. While the preaching of the true gospel leads men to sorrow that they have sinned, in view of a righteous judgment to come, the preaching of that disgraceful doctrine—which we are sorry to have necessity to mention upon our pages—leads wicked men to laugh and trifle, both in view of their sins, and all that the Bible says of the great judgment day.

The apostle, however, does not merely state that God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world, but he alleges that he has given assurance of the fact. His words are, “Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Here he arrives at the foundation of all—the resurrection of Christ from the dead. His logic runs thus: Christ rose from the dead. What assurance does that give? It is the assurance that God has given that he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. And what if that is the case? Why, then, he commands all men everywhere to repent. As certain as Christ rose from the dead, there will be righteous judgment; and because there will be a righteous judgment, men are commanded to reform and become righteous. [204]

Jesus Christ was judged by the highest ecclesiastical court on earth, and in the highest civil court—but in both cases condemned unjustly. He could not have righteous judgment in this world; but, when the unrighteous sentences were passed upon him, and he had yielded to the penalty, and his body was consigned to the prison-house of death, while his spirit was in the unseen world, he appealed the case, and had it referred to the high, the holy and inflexible court of heaven, where the case was tried righteously. When this was done, the former decisions were condemned, as partial and unjust, and Jesus was “justified by the Spirit,” or, as Peter expresses it, “he was quickened by the Spirit.” The decision in the case was not only reversed, but the penalty, which had been executed, and was beyond the power of those who inflicted it to reverse it, was reversed by the great and righteous tribunal to which Jesus had appealed. He was justified from the guilt of their decision, when the Spirit of God condemned their sentence as unjust, and justified from the penalty when he was “quickened by the Spirit,” or raised from the dead.

When justified, he breaks forth in most triumphant language: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty; I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold! I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death.” He had been condemned unjustly, but had gone to a righteous judgment, where the decision was changed, and he was justified; the penalty of death was removed, and he was made alive forevermore; hence, “he ever liveth to make intercession for us.” He had obtained justice. In this case, we have an assurance of a day [205] being appointed in which God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. If God, after the death of Jesus, judged in the case of the great leader of all christians, and changed the unrighteous sentence previously passed upon him, and justified him, why may we not expect him to judge all the world after death; and, where the righteous have been condemned, as has frequently been, and as will be, the case in this world, reverse the decision, and justify them; and, on the other hand, where the guilty have been justified, the decision changed, and they condemned.

There is not a more consoling sentiment on earth, to a righteous man, than that there is a day appointed when impartial justice will take place. The Lord Jesus will judge among the nations, and mete out to them according to their works. The thought, that justice will never take place, may be pleasing to rogues, and such a view might be contended for with great zeal, on the part of those who know that a righteous judgment must condemn them, and such as care not how deep a stab they inflict upon the morals of the world; but to the man who maintains a conscience void of offense toward God and man, and who intends, to the best of his ability, to deport himself righteously, nothing can be a higher satisfaction, than the doctrine, that all false decisions will be reversed, and that a just and equitable sentence will be passed upon all. Such a judgment we anticipate, and such judgment, we are assured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, will take place.

[206]

ONE thing that has caused an apparent difficulty touching the genealogy of Christ, is, that inquirers are not aware of the fact, that Matthew traces the genealogy of Joseph, from Abraham down, and that Luke traces the genealogy of Mary up to Adam. Matt. i.; Luke iii. This will account, in some degree, for the disagreement in names. They are evidently two distinct lines of genealogy, and the best authorities we can appeal to at present, give Matthew’s to Joseph and the other to Mary, and it is clear to any one, that one descends and that the other ascends.

The best evidence we can command, sustains the idea that Matthew wrote at an earlier date than Luke, and that he took his genealogy from the Jewish records, from Abraham to Joseph, as the Jews would be willing to believe their own records; and, that when Luke wrote, Joseph had been adopted into the family of Heli, (Eli, the same) Joseph’s father-in-law, some years, and, consequently, Luke copied the genealogy of Joseph through Heli, which was properly Mary’s genealogy, up to Adam.

There are, however, difficulties in these genealogies, which, we presume, no one can reconcile; but Matthew and Luke are not accountable for them, as they simply give these as the commonly received [207] genealogies, which those in the day when they had the records to appeal to, never disputed. Had the Jews been able to involve the Apostle and Luke in a contradiction, they, no doubt, would willingly have done it, but this they could not do, without disputing their own records.

NO man should go to the Bible, or the God of the Bible, to teach him what man is, or what he should be; but he should go to the Bible to learn what he is, what he ought to be, and what he ultimately shall be. He should not go to the Bible to show what it should teach, but to learn what it does teach, for to this we shall all come in the end, whether it is congenial with our desires or not. We intend, therefore, to maintain it as it is, whether the number in favor of it is small or great. We intend to maintain the old distinction between saint and sinner, vice and virtue, good and bad, with the same meaning attached to them, regardless of all consequences. We shall speak of men being saved and lost, happy and miserable, justified and condemned, with the same ideas attached to the terms as heretofore, and sustained by all sound rules of interpretation, whether it shall be considered sense or foolishness. We shall continue to use the Bible [208] terms, rewards and punishments, life and death, heaven and hell, in the same sense as we have been wont to do, knowing, as we do, that we are supported by the whole canon of sound criticism, and we most solemnly admonish all who fear God, against the glosses of that sickening and supercilious affectation, that induces any man, for one moment, to hesitate to declare to his fellow man, in the most faithful manner, the terrible threatenings of the Almighty against the impenitent.

Let no preacher shrink, in this age of sinfulness and pride; let no man of God be deterred by the ridicule of Universalists, by low wit of sceptics, or the vulgar mocking of atheists, from declaring the terrors of the Lord, for he says, “The Lord shall judge his people.” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” “With lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” “It is better to enter into life having one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched.” “The rich man died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.” Such is but a tithe of what abounds of this description throughout the New Testament. Is he a friend to his God or his fellow man, who knows such language to abound in the word of God, and shuns to declare it to those who hear him?

[209]

WHAT confidence would we have in the preacher who would exchange pulpits with a priest of the Papacy, not only a member of the Romish Church, but made such before he knew there was a God, or a Savior, an idolater, or an unregenerated man? The book of God forbids the saints from keeping company with such a man, or eating with him, or to bid him God-speed. We can meet a Romish priest and treat him as a citizen, if he is one, a neighbor, or gentleman, but we do not know him as a preacher of Jesus, or as a teacher of saints, or as a Christian. He bears no such relations as these to us, and we recognize him in none of these relations. In the same way, any man made a member of the church without any faith, or before he knew there was a church, or even a God, or who has had water sprinkled on him for baptism, is not in the body of Christ, and we feel kindly toward him as a fellow-creature, as a citizen, neighbor or gentleman, if he is one, but we do not know him as a preacher of Jesus, nor a teacher in the kingdom at all. We can extend to him all the amenities and courtesies of life as a fellow-creature, citizen, neighbor, gentleman, etc., but we simply know him, not as a preacher of Jesus, or a teacher of the children of the kingdom. He is not in the kingdom, and is not the man to perform any service there. [210]

The first thing for him to do, is to submit to the divinely ordained process by which to enter the kingdom and become a citizen, according to the law of the Great King, and then he is ready to do any service for which he is qualified in the kingdom. But he can not work in the kingdom till he is in it, and it is a sham, a pretense and hypocrisy to act toward him as if he were in the kingdom, an insincerity before the people that leads to a false impression with some, and destroys the confidence with others.

Such procedure is intended as a show of liberality, broad and liberal views. But is it sincere? Is it candid? Is it honest? What is meant by it? If these men with whom you exchange pulpits are not in Christ, what do you mean when you place them before the people as preachers of the gospel and teachers of the saints? Do you mean that in your expanded liberality you would act toward a man as if he were a brother and a preacher, when you know he is not in the kingdom at all, but if he wanted to become a member of the church, you would not receive him, or give the right hand of fellowship till he was immersed? This will do for people with no religious convictions, no settled principles and no law of God on which to act. They can act in this way or that as they think will be popular, or suit the caprice of the people. But among men with religious convictions, settled principles, and the law of God before them, it is only a want of principle, consistency, and regard for the law of God. It is simply a manifest disrespect to the Majesty [211] of heaven and earth, a bold, open showing that the law of God is ignored, overlooked and disregarded, in courtesy to a man not in the kingdom at all, in deference to a man that was never initiated into the body of Christ! This is openly trampling down the law of God and showing contempt for it, in an empty show of liberality to those to whom the grace of God is as free as any others, but who have never come in the Lord’s appointments into the kingdom of God. We are as desirous to be courteous and liberal as anybody, but religious convictions, sacred principles, and last, though not least, the law of God must not be ignored, overlooked, or treated with contempt. No good man will respect any man for setting aside his religious convictions, principles, or the law of God.

WE want no mere excitement about a man, nor after a man, who, as Simon the Sorcerer, induces the people to think that he is some great one. We want the clear, solid and telling preaching of the gospel, enlightening the people in reference to our Lord, the way to him, and how to serve him. We do not expect, as a general rule, to see much move among the people for the first ten days, but a gradual increase in the audience, the interest in the preaching and conversations about it; an [212] account of the people hunting up their Bibles, inquiring whether these things are so, and occasional argument in reference to the matter. But after due time and deliberation, persons begin to step forward and confess Christ. While a good song is sung, everything in the assembly is solemn, and the impression deepens. While a few remarks are made of a solemn and impressive nature, and the confessions are taken, the audience sits in profound silence, in the deepest and most serious meditation, and tears are seen to flow freely from many faces. The audience disperses, and quietly retires, as if from a funeral. This is what we mean by gospel work.

We want nothing sensational, no tricks, no comic performance; no private maneuvering to induce any one to promise, “If you will join, I will;” no artifice to get round the people, come on them suddenly and surprise them. Come directly to the people from the start, and let them know what you mean, and work directly to the one point—the enlightenment and salvation of men. The man that can tell the story of the cross, and of a Savior’s love, in the most artless and unaffected manner, lose sight of and forget himself in his theme most completely, will accomplish the most in the Savior’s name. May we learn and tell the story of infinite compassion and love in all its fullness and completeness more successfully, with more faith and power than ever, and may we be enabled to bring souls to Christ more abundantly than ever.

[213]

THE genuine power—the power that will enable us to stand against all opposition and triumph at last—is not in this man or that, money or learning, talent or popularity, but in the true position. Learning is profitable, if used wisely, as a help in finding and determining the true position; but the power is not in the learning nor talent. A man of very ordinary learning and talent may find the true position, stand on and defend it. No matter what a man’s learning, talent or popularity may be, if he forsakes the truth, the right ground, if he undertakes to advocate false theories, it will become perfect weakness, and will be swept away like chaff. If men desire to stand, let them not think of their own power, learning, popularity, or personal influence, and talent, but of the true ground, “the right way of the Lord,” and depend on truth and the God of truth; never deviate from the truth, but be faithful to it, maintain their integrity to it, and the God of all truth and righteousness will hold them up. They will realize that the strength of the everlasting hills is underneath, and they cannot be moved. If men who once knew the truth, begin to higgle, tamper and trifle; if they, little by little, begin to show a want of integrity, a lack of moral honesty; a disposition to compromise with sectarianism; [214] to ignore the distinctions between truth and error, the body of Christ and sectarian bodies; the way of the Lord and other ways, and finally begin to abandon leading principles and leading points of teaching, they will find their power gone and will soon amount to nothing. Many men have, in this way, literally thrown themselves away, and others are now going the same road.

If men desire to stand, they should seek the true ground, try to ascertain and determine what the truth is; find, with certainty, the true position, and place themselves squarely in it; maintain and defend it, not depending on their own strength, learning, talent, influence or popularity, but on the truth; the true position; the right way. But some one is ready to inquire: “How can we find truth in the midst of so much error; the right way in the midst of so many ways?” This may be a little difficult to some. There is, however, one thing indispensable to it, and that is that a man receive “the love of the truth.” This lies at the foundation of the whole matter. Men will never be successful in finding, advocating, maintaining or defending the truth, who have never “received the love of the truth;” nor will they succeed in abiding in the truth. This is the very ground-work of the whole matter. All a man’s pretences of seeking the truth, are nothing but an empty sham, if he has not in him the love of the truth. He must have in him “a good and an honest heart,” to constitute him the “good ground” in which the seed of the kingdom, the word of God, will grow. But the man that loves the truth, desires it, longs for it, and has in him a good and honest heart, will make most diligent, [215] careful and critical search for it. He sets out, not to prove this or that; not to maintain this theory or that, but to find the true ground—the truth itself, “as it is in Jesus”—and rarely fails to find the desired object, the highly prized jewel, the most precious gem. The love of the truth has an influence on a man, in different ways, in favor of his finding it, as follows:

First. It leads him to make diligent search for it. A man will certainly strive to find an object that he loves, and if he loves the truth, he will make most diligent search for it.

Second. It leads him to exercise the utmost discrimination, to distinguish between truth and error, that he may not be imposed on and deceived, and induced to think something is the truth that is not, and thus have a spurious article imposed on him.

Third. The love of the truth has wonderful power over a man to cause him to retain it. If he loves it he will not give it up.

If a man receives not the love of the truth, it affects him badly in the following respect:

First. He will exercise no diligence, to find it. He will not search for it.

Second. He will not be honest when it is presented to him, but will evade, cavil, quibble and mystify it if possible; kick up a dust to blind his own eyes, and thus keep him from understanding and receiving the truth. The Lord will abandon such men to “believe a lie, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” There are many men now who receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. They will never be enlightened or brought to the knowledge of the truth. The truth condemns them and they do not want it. They hate it and those who love it. [216]

Truth has one grand quality about it; the more you know about it, the more clearly you see that it is the truth. It is like an honest man; the more you know about him, the more clearly you see that he is an honest man. The more you know about error, the more clearly you perceive it to be error. In the same way, the more you know about dishonest and heartless men the more clearly you see that they are dishonest.

Be careful and occupy the right ground, the true position, and no man can ever overthrow it, or prove it to be anything else but the true ground. It is a great thing in favor of an army to take a strong position.

We have taken the strongest position that can be taken, and if we fall back from that, no matter what we fall back to, we shall find it a weaker position. We have gone back to our Lord and looked up to him, and committed ourselves to him. He has given us a position and placed us on it. It is not our position but his position. We know it is right, because it came from him and is his. We have simply received him, with all he said and did—his holy and inspired apostles, with all they said and did. We have nothing of our own, but have received Christ and his gospel, the apostles of Christ, and the gospel of the grace of God, which they preached; the teaching of Christ and his apostles; all things as they came from this divine source, without anything added or taken away, anything more or less. None can find a position above this. It is the highest ground that can be taken. The gospel which the apostles preached is right. The apostles’ teaching for [217] the churches is right. This nobody denies. We have no position of our own, or doctrine of our own, but have taken precisely the position of the first Christians, and the teachings under which they were placed, and no other. We, therefore, have nothing but our Lord, his gospel and teachings, as they emanated from himself and his inspired apostles, and no position only the one on which they have placed us to defend.

We are weak and can do but little. Let us not rely on our own position, but the one the Lord has appointed; our own views or theories, but the clear teachings of our Lord and his apostles. Here is the strength, and those who stand here will find the Lord of hosts with them. We must plead for the Lord, the gospel, the teachings of Christ and the apostles, the ground on which they stood, maintain that and nothing else. Here is the power, and it is nowhere else.

THE Lord gave the commemoration of his sufferings and death to his disciples, and Paul, in Corinth, gave it to the congregation of the saints, and not to any others. Those who are his disciples, who are in Christ, in the body, are communicants, and those not in Christ, are not communicants. We “neither invite nor exclude,” but show to whom the [218] Lord has given the communion, and that no others have any right to it, only those in good standing in the body, and give it to no others.

But for any preacher or church to arrange purposely for communion with persons whom they know are not in Christ, not in the kingdom, and try to blur over the clear violation of the law of the kingdom, as thus deliberately arranged for, by defining the position of his church to be that they “neither invite nor exclude,” is certainly a weak and shallow device. It is an attempt to ignore the very act by which we enter into union with the Father and with the Son, as, also, the “whole family in heaven and on earth,”—immersion into Christ, into the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, under the sham pretext of a union meeting, a union communion. There is no Christian union in any meeting that intends to ignore the clear law of induction into the kingdom of God. It is only a union in disloyalty to the Great King—ignoring his law.

[219]

WE know of two or three wandering pilgrims that are now old men, of good enough talent to have made a permanent record long ago, and yet received in doubt wherever they go, held in distrust, and, to say the least, they have nothing that could be called a standing. To be safe, all the overseers in the church need do is simply to receive no man till he produces clear evidence of good standing. Look back over the record and see where the men have gone to who have tried the gospel of soul sleeping. Where are Elias Shortridge, Wm. P. Shockey, Wm. S. Speer, J. K. Speer, Snooks, and others of the same ilk? and where are their works? A streak of desolation has followed in their train all the way. They have divided churches, set the people of God at variance, and sown the seeds of discord. This is the kind of fruit that has been gathered from their work. Look back over the ground and see what has followed every man that has stranded among us. Nothing but ruin has followed. Men that stood fair, had line talent and valuable attainments, by some kind of departure or other, have gone, little by little, blaming those that loved them, and would, had it been in their power, have done anything to make them happy, till all is lost and they feel averse to almost everything. This is what it brings to get restless and dissatisfied with the plain truth of the Scriptures. [220]

The race of some men is short, and the mischief they do is certain. The ruin they bring to the churches is inevitable. Nothing is more important than that the churches should guard against false teachers. In the place of being flattered that all is well, and that they mean all right, we should be on the lookout; watch all unscriptural words and phrases; every false move and pretence; every doubtful man and measure, and encourage that which is safe, sound and good. Make every public man sensible that it is of importance to him, and to the cause, to be known to be sound in teaching; to hold fast the form of sound speech that can not be condemned; to be entirely safe and reliable; to have a good record during his past history as a preacher. Make all our young men specially sensible of the importance to them to become permanent men, firm, decided and determined in their course. We want no milk-and-water men, a little this way and a little that, but men of settled principles, religious convictions and reliable purposes. Be careful who you “indorse” as preachers of the gospel. Men who want good indorsers should be good men.

[221]

NOTHING is more common than reading of the dedication of the Temple by Solomon as appropriate on dedication occasions. Only a few short years ago, a young brother of fine talent read of the dedication of the temple, and appropriated it to the occasion of dedicating a new meeting-house. But this is a perversion of a very inexcusable character. It loses sight of the significance of one of the most important types of the Old Testament. The temple was no type of a meeting-house, nor was the dedication of the temple a type of dedicating a meeting-house. The Lord did not give us the minute description of the building of the temple and the dedication to show us how to build fine houses and dedicate them.

The temple was the type of the spiritual building; the congregation of the saints, lively stones, built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. This is the temple that God dwells in—the house of God. The dedication of that ancient temple was typical of the dedication, or the consecration of men and women to the service of God. The work of the Pope is to lose sight of the dedication, or the consecration of men and women to the service of God, symbolized by the dedication of the temple, and turn the eyes of the people to great gatherings of people, to the flummery and parade of laying [222] corner-stones, dedicating houses, immense piles of stone, brick, wood and mortar, baptizing bells and furniture, etc., etc.; but this is no work for the followers of Jesus, nor is there anything in it to put one in mind of our Lord.

We have no objection to holding a good meeting in a new house, setting the congregation of the Lord in order, if it needs it in it, and preaching the gospel to the people of the world. But we see no use then in making a great ado about it, or thinking any more of it than a good meeting in an old house. We do not like extra occasions. We like the regular worship appointed by the Lord, with every item from him, and not an item not from him. We love the things of God, but nothing not of him. We want no dedication occasions, nor any others not authorized in Scripture. When a new house is built, go into it and use it precisely as you would if it had been there fifty years. What the Lord has appointed will occupy our whole minds and hearts and hands.

[223]

THERE was certainly an assembly or congregation in the wilderness, as mentioned by Stephen. Acts vii. 38; but this congregation or assembly in the wilderness was the nation, or the national assembly of Israel—fleshly Israel. It consisted of the fleshly descendants of Abraham, as described in the language of God to Abraham, “Those born in thy house,” or the Jews. This congregation or assembly, the nation of Israel, or the Jews, was not the church, or body of Christ, but, as a body, it rejected Christ, persecuted him and instigated putting him to death, persecuted his followers and the church he established. Those of whom the church on Pentecost was composed came out of that old persecuting church, abandoned it and “were added to them”—to the apostles and the one hundred and twenty brethren—the new church—the one the Lord said (Matt. xvi. 18), “I will build.” “On this rock I will build my church”—the “one new man” (Eph. ii. 15), “to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” “Man” here is used figuratively, and stands for church, and one new man is one new church. It is not the perpetuation of an old church, Adamic, Abrahamic, Mosaic or any other, but to build one new church was what the Lord intended and accomplished. [224]

The matter now is, not to be a descendant of Abel, nor of Abraham, nor Jacob, or Israel; nor to be of any particular line of flesh and blood, but to be born again—born from above, born of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This new church has a new basis of membership, not in the flesh but in the Spirit, not in being born in the family of Abraham, but in the family of God, not in the first birth, but the second birth, not in a birth of the flesh, but a birth of the Spirit, not founded in natural generation, but in regeneration, not children of God by blood, but “all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

This church in which we are “all the children of God by faith in Christ”—by virtue of a new creation, a birth of water and of the Spirit, is not the one in the wilderness, nor any other church, congregation or assembly found before Pentecost, but it is the one the Lord said, “I will build,” but which was not built when the Lord said this; the one new man, or new church which the Lord made of the twain, or the two, the Jews and the Gentiles. This is the “one body” into which all were immersed in the time of the apostles—the body of Christ—the “temple of God,” in which God and Christ and the Holy Spirit dwell. To be “in Christ” is to be in this one body, to be “in the kingdom of God,” “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” to be in union with the Father and with the Son, with the whole family in heaven and on earth. To be in this one body brings us to all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is the body or the church that Jesus loved, and for which he gave himself, that “he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of [225] water by the word”—“the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” It is “the building of God,” established “according to his eternal purpose” to “the intent” that “to the principalities and powers in heavenly places may be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” See Eph. iii. 10.

WHY do men regret to hear us say of a man, “He is a gospel man;” “He is a sound man;” “He is a New Testament man.” It implies that there are some that are not “gospel men,” not “sound,” not “New Testament men.” What if it does? Why need any man be troubled about that? Certain men will be suspected of being unsound! Indeed! Must we shut our eyes and think contrary to what we know to be matter of fact, that all are sound? But, you imply that some are not sound! Certainly, and you imply that some are not honest, when you put a lock on your stable, crib or smoke-house, lock and bolt your doors at night, and when you will not trust all men alike. When you say, “I will trust him, his word is as good as his note,” you imply that some other man is not good—that his word is not as good as his note. [226]

But we tell you of A, B, C, D and E, that we have trusted, and they have all paid, and we believe all are alike honest, and will pay. If you are a business man, you will reply, “Yes, and I have trusted many more than that, all of whom paid, but I have trusted a long list that did not pay, and you need not preach to me that all will pay.” So referring to a few men who, on a few occasions preached the gospel faithfully, does not prove that all do this, or even that these few always do it.

That we have the men now who are making it a constant and prayerful effort to reproduce the gospel and all its fruits; to reproduce the Church and all its blessings to man; to maintain all things as delivered to us by Christ and his apostles, we rejoice to know. That we have another class of men, who have no heart in this, and have even repudiated the idea, we entertain not a doubt. Those determined to reproduce the gospel of Christ and all its fruits, the Church, and all its blessings to man, introduce no innovations; nothing new and foreign to destroy the peace of the children of God, and are the cause of no dissensions and no divisions. Those standing off are not from among them. They will stand with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with the things of God as set forth in Scripture. We stop not to count the number, whether great or small, nor to consider whether they shall be popular or unpopular, rich or poor. The only question is, are they of God? Does God require that the gospel of his grace, as given by his Son and the apostles, shall be reproduced? Does he require that the church shall be reproduced? We maintain that he requires that the gospel, in all its entirety and completeness, shall be reproduced, and we shall be [227] satisfied with nothing short of it. He requires that the Church, in its entirety and completeness, shall be reproduced. These are matters settled with us. The man whose heart is not in this work, and who aims not at it, is not one with us, nor in sympathy with us.

WE do not believe that the 25th of December is the birthday of our Lord. We have seen abundant reasons for this, and could adduce them, if the importance of the matter required it, though we have not the works at hand now to refer to, as we think, settling the matter.

There is not an intimation of the first Christians making anything of the birthday of our Lord, observing it religiously in any way, or regarding it as a holiday, or a holy day at all. This accounts for the uncertainty about the day. If the first Christians had observed it, or in any particular way celebrated it, as the Jews did the Passover, there never could have been any doubt about the day. Anti-christ is great on holy days, specially if, of his own appointment, or if some paganism is mixed in them. This was one source of corruption in the primitive church—the continual tendency to mix up pagan ceremonies and superstitions with the simple, pure and holy religion of our Lord. Worldly and carnal-minded men in the early ages conceived the idea of [228] popularizing the religion of Christ and commending it to the world by mixing pagan ceremonies, customs and superstitions with it; adorning it with philosophy and the pagan ideas of refinement. But all this only corrupted and degraded it.

The Romish apostasy now has some forty holy days in a year, and as many human laws about observing them, while those involved in it gormandize, drink, revel and gamble on the Lord’s day, and thus encroach upon the laws of a civilized and enlightened people. Protestants are patronizing them in this, and recognizing their holy days, and at the same time making nothing of celebrating the sufferings of our Lord, on the first day of every week, as all history assures us was the practice of the first church! Instead of recognizing the glorious resurrection of our Lord, in the assembling on the first day of the week, they talk of the Sabbath, and instead of “the communion of the blood and body of the Lord”—the commemoration of his great sufferings for us, they listen to a pitiful ditty called “a sermon,” and then put on long faces and keep Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, etc., not named in the law of God at all, but derived from paganism. If we had no other objection to sectarianism but this, we would stand clear. People who see nothing in “the first day of the week”—“the Lord’s day”—but Sabbath, or rest, and see not the importance of celebrating the Lord’s death, commemorating his sufferings, in obedience to some of his last instructions, such as the injunction, “Do this till I come”—“Do this in memory of me”—need to be enlightened before they can be regarded as worshipers in any true [229] sense, under Christ. This is the very life, the heart, the soul, and if it be left out, all is a sham, an empty pretence—nothing. The question is not about Christmas, Good Friday, nor Easter, of Romish and pagan authority, but of “the Lord’s day,” and “the communion of the blood and body of the Lord,” having the supreme and absolute authority of the Great King.

WE think it is quite proper for men who belong to no church to make it known, and then if people want to uphold such anarchy, disorderly men, as preachers of the gospel, they can do so with a clear understanding. If preachers can live out of any church and do the will of God, other people can do the same. This is not all nor the worst of it. These men claim not only that they can live out of any church and do the will of God, but they claim that they can do more good out of any church than in one. This only needs to be run out to its legitimate result to see the absurdity of it. Outside of any church is not only outside of churches of human device, but outside of the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. The Lord has established one church, one body, one kingdom. He gave himself for that church. He built it on the rock. He sanctified and cleansed it with the washing of [230] the water by the word. He made one new man, so making peace, or one new church. It is the Lord’s one flock of which he is the one Shepherd; the temple of God, in which God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwell; the kingdom which we have received that can not be moved. Outside of any church is outside of this church. Outside of this church is the world, and inside of it is the kingdom of God—all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

WE find some brethren call a few members of the church who sit together and lead the singing a choir. This is no choir in the popular sense, nor is it at all objectionable, specially if the singing is so conducted that the members generally sing. But this is not the meaning of choir. The choir in a church is composed of artistic performers, who sing for the church; sing difficult pieces that the masses can not sing, for music and musical display, to attract, entertain and gratify the people—to charm them with music. These are professional singers, chosen without any regard to their piety, and frequently without any regard to their moral character. They sing to show how they can sing, amuse and entertain.

[231]

ANY man who is a christian, or is in Christ, can be received into the fellowship of the church. If a man is not a christian, not in Christ, he can not, in any consistency, be received into the church or into the pulpit. We would not give much for any man’s principles, who can set them aside for a little act of courtesy, or a little pretence of liberality. It is nothing but a sham, an empty pretence and hypocrisy, to receive a man into the pulpit, and recognize him before the people, to whom you would not give the right hand of fellowship.

It is liberality to allow every man the same liberty you enjoy, but a sham, a pretence and hypocrisy to recognize him as a preacher of Jesus, when you do not believe he is in Christ, and would not give him the right hand of fellowship and take him into the church. Nor is it courtesy to receive such a man into the stand as a preacher, but hypocrisy. A man who is in Christ is a brother, and, if a preacher of Christ, may be received as such, in good faith. Such an one has a right to all the privileges of the body of Christ, by virtue of being in it. But the man who ignores the law of the King, and recognizes persons who are not in Christ as brethren, christians and preachers, instead of displaying a broad liberality, an extended charity, shows that he has no settled principles—that he disregards principles and law. [232]

Who ever thought a Mason or an Odd Fellow was discourteous for not recognizing a man as a Mason who did not belong to the order? Certainly no man of intelligence. They have their initiation, and without it you are not in the order, and they do not recognize you, charitably or uncharitably.

WE never heard Dr. Knox announce a song to be sung in public, while we were with him in Prince Edward Island, when he did not say, distinctly and very audibly, “We will praise God by singing,” etc. This opens out with the right idea. How grand and sublime to praise God in song! We ought to sing in worship, not for music, or even fine singing, but to praise God, to worship the Lord our God as an act of devotion to God. We ought not to enter into it with the heart set on music, either instrumental or any other sort, but on God and our gracious and merciful Lord Jesus the Christ. The words ought to be read frequently and a few words of comment on them, calling attention to the sense, the praises, thanksgiving and supplications. Then people who know not God will see, as many christians appear to fail to see, the propriety of the word in one of our hymns: “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God.” It is a contradiction of all common sense of the very [233] meaning of the worship in song, for those who never knew God, or who never even professed to be christians or tried to turn to God, to say nothing of vile characters, to attempt to enter in the worship in song.

We care not how well people sing if they praise God, give thanks and pour out their souls to him. Enter into the song with heart and soul, and sing out with full voices, enraptured with the theme of the song, Him whose praises they sing, the salvation he graciously gives and the immortality he proposes to bestow. The theme of the song is the great matter. To sing with the spirit and the understanding is commanded, and to teach and admonish in singing is also commanded. The main body of the singing now done is not with the spirit nor the understanding, nor is anything taught or any one admonished. This is no worship. Singing merely to make music is no more worship than performing on a piano or violin.

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BUT that Christ will come—“that same Jesus”—as literally as he was seen go up into heaven from Mount Olivet, we entertain not one doubt. That the dead will be raised and pass the final judgment, after which the wicked will go away into everlasting punishment—into the fire of gehena, where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched, at the same time that the righteous enter into life eternal—we entertain not one doubt. These are clear and awful matters of divine revelation, and the main matters to set forth and enforce on men, and not theories about these great matters. Is it true that a man may “lose his own soul?” that a man may be “cast into hell?” that “both soul and body” may be “destroyed in hell?” that wicked men “shall go away into everlasting punishment?” that they may be “tormented day and night, forever and ever?” Is it true that God “has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead?” Beyond all question, it is true. In raising Jesus from the dead, God has given assurance to all men that he will judge the world in righteousness. The assurance that God will judge the world in righteousness is the reason for repentance. He commands all men, everywhere, to repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.

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IS there one true and divine religion in the world? The answer of the people in this country generally is, that there is. Touching this answer we entertain not a doubt. There is in this world one religion from God, and of supreme and absolute authority. It covers the whole ground, and leaves not the least room for any other. All others are departures from it, corruptions of it, or amalgamations with something else. That one religion was given by Christ and his apostles. Christ is the Author of it. He is the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the Ending. “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to him.” His religion, and no other, has the divine, the supreme, and the absolute authority in it. There is not one particle of divine authority in any other. All others are usurpations, existing in antagonism and rebellion, and will be overthrown.

The Papal religion is a compound, or an amalgamation of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism, the latter, by far, preponderating. Its great love for, and attachment to the Latin, is in deference to Paganism. While it contains some truth, and some parts of the religion [236] of Christ, it can not be said, in truth, to be that religion. It is another, a departure, an apostasy; beyond recovery, and the divine command to the people of God involved in it, is to “Come out of her, that you be not partaker of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.” Rev. xviii. 4. God says, “Her sins” (the sins of Mystery Babylon) “have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” This iniquitous system, as a distinct religion, was not in the world for ages after the true religion was established. We need inform no one a little acquainted with the New Testament, that no such being as the Pope was in the church, nor in the world, in the time of the apostles; nor does he appear in the early history of the church at all. We might as well look into the Bible or early history for an account of Mohammed, or the Mormon prophet, as for the Pope. Neither the Pope nor Mohammed appear at all in history, for hundreds of years after the establishment of the only true religion. Nor was there a Cardinal or an Archbishop, during the same period. These dignitaries were not developed till long after the founding of the New Institution. The entire priesthood of the Papacy, as now found, as also the Nuns and Sisters of Charity, are wanting in all the history, and, we may safely say, in everything written in the early centuries. There is not a trace of them in the Bible, except in prophecy, nor in any writing, for hundreds of years after the apostles. This any man knows who has read and reflected at all.

The idea of the Papacy existing, except in embryo, insidiously coming up, without a Pope, a Cardinal, an Arch-bishop, a Bishop, a Priest, a [237] Nun, or Sister of Charity, for centuries after Christ, is one of the most preposterous things ever imposed on the credulity of mankind. Yet the very mention of these dignitaries is lacking in all the writings of several of the early centuries, either in the Bible or out of it. There is not a trace of them in any writing of the period of which we speak, Jewish, Christian, Infidel or Pagan. There is nothing clearer than that the Papal religion came up too late to have the least claim to be the true religion. The same is true of the Mohammedan religion. The true religion was in the world long centuries before Mohammedanism had an existence. It was born too late to be the true religion.

The true religion was born in Jerusalem. The Papacy was born in Rome. Rome has been its seat—its Eternal City. It did not begin in Jerusalem, but in Rome. Mohammedanism was not born in Jerusalem, but in Mecca. It did not originate with Jesus but with Mohammed. A religion not known till hundreds of years after Christ and his apostles, most unequivocally is not the true religion. We need not trouble the reader with the mention of any religion, born at a later date, in another place, or originating with another person. Such a religion certainly has no claim to be the true one. The true religion originated with Jesus, in Jerusalem, and in the time of Christ and the apostles. Any religion that did not originate with Jesus, in Jerusalem, and in the time of Christ and the apostles, and that does not appear in the accounts found on the pages of the New Testament, nor any writings of the first three centuries, is out of the question. If the very name of any religion, the person with whom it originated, and other important [238] matters connected with it, are not found in the Bible, nor a trace of it in history for hundreds of years after Christ, it is out of the question.

Is there any way to determine what the true religion is? Is it anywhere distinctly set forth, revealed and embodied in writing, so that we can find it separate from everything else? It is distinctly set forth by Christ and his apostles, separate from everything else. They revealed it as complete religion in itself, containing all things necessary to life and godliness—the final the last will of God to man. It is the culmination, the embodiment and consummation of infinite wisdom and goodness in one religion, for all nations of men that dwell on all the face of the earth. Can we find it? Can we tell what it is? Can we practice and enjoy it? We claim that we can find it, practice it and enjoy it. Can we determine what it requires us to believe, what it requires us to do, and what it promises us? If we have to say no to all this, we are in a deplorable condition truly. But we claim that we can find the true religion, determine what it is, practice and enjoy it; that we can determine what it requires us to believe, what it requires us to do, and what it promises us. This being so, there is not an excuse for any man being irreligious, taking up with a wrong religion, thinking that something is the true religion that is not, believing something that it does not require, doing something it does not command, or hoping for something it does not promise.

There is one book in which the religion of Christ is set forth. That one book is the Bible. In that book the one religion, the only true religion, is set forth; set forth correctly by the unerring Spirit of [239] all revelation and all divine wisdom. Not another religion is found in that book, now in force. No man goes to that book to find an account of the Pope, a Cardinal, or an Archbishop of the Papal type. No man of intelligence goes there to find an account of Mohammed, or the Koran. No man of intelligence goes to the Bible to find an account of the Church of England, its origin, rise, or any part of its history. No man goes to the Bible to find an account of Lutheranism, its origin, rise, or any part of its history. There never was a Lutheran before Martin Luther lived, in the sixteenth century. No man goes to the Bible to find an account of the origin of Presbyterianism. There never was a Presbyterian before John Calvin. No man goes to the Bible to find the origin, rise, or any part of the history of Methodism. There never was a Methodist before John Wesley. We do not go to the Bible to find an account of George Fox, Ann Lee, Joe Smith, etc.; nor of Quakerism, Shakerism, or Mormonism. These persons are not Bible characters, and these religions are not Bible religions. They came not into existence till long ages after the last words of the Bible were written. The true religion had been in the world ages before these were born. This ends all controversy about their claims to be the true religion. The true religion was a finality. In its closing words it forbids any addition.

There is not an item in any religion in the world that is right that did not come from the Bible. All parties admit that all that comes from the Bible is right, and all that does not come from the Bible is without authority. Their differences are about what is not in the Bible [240] and not about what is in the Bible. They all believe the Bible, but they do not believe what each other have in their other books that is not in the Bible. It is not the Bible that makes the Baptists, for there is nothing in the Bible about the Baptists, and then the Episcopalians have the Bible and believe it as much as the Baptists do, and it does not make them Baptists. It is not the Bible that makes Episcopalians, for the Presbyterians have the Bible and believe it as much as the Episcopalians do, and it does not make them Episcopalians. It is not the Bible that makes Presbyterians, for there is nothing in the Bible about Presbyterians, and then the Methodists have the Bible and believe it as much as the Presbyterians do, and it does not make them Presbyterians.

The movement about the beginning of this century was not to establish a new church, or a new religion, but to return to the Lord, find the old religion and the old church; receive, believe and practice what the old religion, as set forth in Scripture, requires, and nothing else. No movement can go back of this, nor rise above it, if it does what it claims. What remains for us, is to stand to it, maintain it and carry it out practically and faithfully.

[241]

SOME fifteen years ago a few of our more advanced men gradually commenced opening up to our benighted minds, the fact, that A. Campbell was not the great man we had thought he was; that he was not the scholar we had thought; that some of his chief ideas were erroneous, and that we should have much trouble in undoing what he had done wrong. We were growing up many young men, and being illiterate and unlearned, we knew not but we had over estimated A. Campbell, and that some mighty men were rising among us, that would throw him in the shade. But we had one comfort all the time, and that was that we were not alone in the opinion that A. Campbell was a man of superior learning and parts. We noticed that he attracted the fire of the great guns of the infidels, the Universalists, the Roman Catholics, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and sectarians in general. He attracted the attention of the great men of Christendom, distinguished the hills of Bethany, and gave them a name that will extend down to the end of the ages. No man on this continent called forth anything like the same amount of attention he did, for the space of forty years. It was not a mere fortuity that gave him notoriety, but sound learning, correct and abundant information, persistent and determined work, with a fixed and [242] settled purpose, to which he addressed the energies of his life. He was a mighty man in the highest sense, and to this the impression he made on the people of this great country, will testify till the Lord shall come.

We have been amused with two classes of men among us. Those of one class were adjusting themselves for the mantle of A. Campbell to fall on them when he would depart. Had that mantle fallen on one of them, he would have appeared like a boy with his father’s great coat on—it would have fit nowhere. The other class are finding his errors and going beyond him. But it is remarkable, that in almost every instance, these advanced men prove to be wrong themselves. Instead of their discovering some new truth, they resurrect some old error. We do not think it is advancing very far ahead of A. Campbell to resuscitate the Romish and Restorationist idea of an obscure Scripture. We frequently think of the man’s invention, that claimed that he could grow sheep without wool—it is more curious than profitable.

It is not inventive genius we need in the Church, nor explorers to invent something new, or to make discoveries; but we need humble and honest men, who know and love the truth, and will press it on the world. We know humble men, of but limited talent and information, who are building up churches, reforming men and women, and bringing them to God. We know also men of considerable learning and talent, who do not turn a bare dozen to the Lord in a year, and who build up no churches nor anything else, but who are starting subtleties, speculations and [243] questions to no profit, but only tend to subvert the hearer. Why can men not be content with the plain truth, the precious truth that makes men wise to salvation, through faith in Christ? It is easily learned, easily preached and readily believed and obeyed to the salvation of the soul. It is for the people, the whole people, and adapted to them. The kind of greatness we need, is that which manifests itself in preaching great truth in plain and easy terms, and bringing it to the comprehension of the people. The command is, and will be till the Lord comes, “Preach the word.”

A SINGLE congregation of the Lord in any community can administer and execute the work of the Lord in all its parts. This is true of every congregation. When assembled it is a divinely-authorized body to act in the matters of the kingdom of God. There is no other divinely-authorized body on earth to act in the matters of the kingdom of God. This body is under the old commission from the Lord: “Observe all things whatever I have commanded you.”

[244]

WE have been trying to classify our missionary men, so that we can think of them with intelligence. We put them down as follows:

First. Men who go ahead and preach, and continue on preaching. These are missionary men in the true sense.

Second. Men that contribute liberally of their substance to support those who are devoted to preaching, and see that their money goes to the men that do the work. These are missionary men also in the true sense.

Third. Men who devise plans, inaugurate missions, and call on other people to give the money, stand ready where the money comes out, or at the missionary box, to catch it, and propose, when they get $10,000, to send somebody to preach! These may be great on devising, planning and inaugurating; but we can not work ourself into the belief that they are missionary men in the true sense. We want to see some proposition for them to go; and we want to know that they are going. This hanging on to rich churches and fine salaries, and proposing to receive the money of the people, and send somebody to preach, is not “the Lord’s plan,” nor any other that will stand in the day of judgment. [245]

The people of God can find plenty of good preachers whom they know to be worthy, who are devoted to preaching the gospel, and not ruining or corrupting it, to whom they can apply all they can give, and not have a dollar consumed by secretary, or any “middle man,” but all will go to the laborer who is worthy of his hire—to the man that does the work. The means thus given will do four times as much work as if sent through so many hands, and all go as intended by the donor. The work is not a local work, and needs no concentration of funds, but is at the door of every man, and the way is open for every man that has it in him to do anything, to do according to the ability that the Lord gives.

ONE dancing-master in a community, with some concessions of a preacher who has an easy conscience on the follies of the age, a little in his favor, with one saw of his bow across the strings of an old fiddle, will inveigle a whole community of wild and thoughtless young people into the dance and hold them there half a night, and not one of them will complain of the long meeting. Restraining these influences is not so easy. It requires a combined effort of all the godly. We have done all we could to restrain those terrible demoralizing influences, and a noble band of as true men and women as live have stood by us and [246] encouraged us by extending their patronage and words of comfort. Truly are we thankful to these and to the Lord who has put it into their hearts to do what they have to aid us. We have this consciousness, that to the best of our ability we have done our part. We have tried all the time to exercise the best wisdom we could, and have continually implored the Lord for wisdom and strength to perform the difficult part of the work, in the providence of God committed to our hand.

NO modification of principle has ever made any impression on our mind, only the impression that he who proposes it, is ready for back-sliding. There are some principles that are self-evidently right. They can not be modified. We may depart from them, but can not modify them. The law of God is supreme in its authority. It is absolute. Those of us who have taken it can stand by and maintain it, on the one hand, or depart from it on the other. We can not change it or modify it. There are but two things for men to do, who are not under the law of God. One is to come under the law. The other is to reject it. There are also but two things for those who have come under it. One is to observe it. The other is to abandon it. [247]

We are thankful to be assured that the great body of those who have come under the law of the Great King, are well pleased with him and his law. They regard it as holy, just and good, and regard every man who departs from it untrue. The true stand by it, and the untrue depart from it.

But, we have a few claims to put in for the law of King Jesus, and we want the attention of our liberal men to these claims:

We claim for the law of King Jesus that it is most magnanimous and liberal. It excels in its liberality all laws ever published. It offers citizenship to all who will come and be naturalized, with full, free and equal rights. It offers to all, the privilege of becoming children in the heavenly family by adoption, and makes them all heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, on the same terms. It offers the same pardon and on the same terms to all the world. It offers the same divine designations to all, the same gospel, and the same spirit of life; the same Bible, and the same law for all. The same grace of God has appeared to all men. God is no respecter of persons, but he who fears and works righteousness is accepted with him. It has the same liberal terms of union and communion for all who come to God.

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WE will, for the sake of the inexperienced, state the argument. When we set forth the way, as laid down in Scripture, we are in the affirmative—must show it to be the way, maintain and defend it. When some other way is affirmed, we affirm nothing and have nothing to prove, but simply deny. It is no part of our work to prove that there is no other way. We simply have nothing to prove. Let him who affirms that there is some other way prove it. Call on him for his proof, and in default of any proof he loses the case. He trusts his soul, and tries to induce others to trust their souls, on another way, for which he can bring no proof. This is the “vantage ground.” The way is in the Bible, and can be easily pointed out. Another way is not in it, and can not be pointed out. Let him try it who pleases—it simply can not be done. Charitable or uncharitable, narrow or broad, liberal or illiberal, another way can not be pointed out in the book of God.

Let there be no cavil. We are speaking of gospel subjects, and the way set forth for them to come to God.

[249]

SUPPOSE a modern popular revivalist such as Mr. Moody, in one of his great meetings should tell his audience that he would read the great commission of our Lord to his apostles, and proceed to read as follows:

“Go you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you.”

“Go you into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned?”

Then, suppose he should follow this up with the words of Peter, in reply to the three thousand on Pentecost, when they inquired, “What shall we do?” when he said, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” or that he should also quote the instructions of Ananias to Saul: “Why do you tarry? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord;” what think you would become of the great union meeting and the wonderful co-operation of so many parties? They would disperse almost as rapidly as the Jews did from our Lord when he overthrew the tables of the money changers and drove them out of the temple. They would hear him no more. [250]

These great union meetings, in which many of different parties unite and co-operate, put a part of the word of God—the language of the Spirit of God—on the same level with their partisan peculiarities and opinions, and ignore all together, the human and the divine! They make no difference between the human and divine, in ignoring, but simply ignore the matters in which they do not agree, no matter whether human or divine. We make this difference; we ignore all that is human, and recognize all that is divine. The true union ground is the divine. We are not to unite simply on what we agree about. We may agree in the wrong—the erroneous—the false. The true ground is to ignore everything that did not come from God, and recognize everything that did come from God. The entire revelation from God to man is that on which to unite. All included in that is of supreme authority, and all not included in that is of no authority at all.

Men may join in union meetings, co-operate in them or unite permanently in them, but so long as they are alliances, leagues or confederations, in an understood, settled and persistent ignoring of clear instructions from the Lord in reference to the way of salvation, the approbation of the Lord will not be there. It matters nothing about the number that unite in these meetings, nor the variety of different parties, nor how many conversions may be claimed, the approbation of the Lord is not there so long as his authority is ignored in deference to people that do not receive it.

These meetings, the different parties pushing into them, and the various preachers participating in them, are simply demonstrations of the confused state of the public mind. Neither the preachers nor the [251] people are settled. They are out at sea and ready for anything new, or anything better, but know not where to find it. They have become so bewildered that they can trust in almost anything, except the clear revelation of God. Whatever a man thinks is right, that is right to him, unless he thinks the law of God is right. They can not admit that that is right if a man does think it is right! But it is right, whether they think it is right or not, and will be right for ever and ever.

WHERE, then, is the army of the Lord? It is not in an aggregated body, some vast assembly headed by great clergymen, making display and show, of imposing ceremonies and vast assemblies. Like the ancient disciples, they are “scattered abroad,” and are going “everywhere preaching the word.” In their humble homes, their neighborhoods, among plain and sincere people, they are sowing the good seed of the kingdom of God, training their children in the way of the Lord, and, by their godly lives, personal influence and pious instructions, spreading the knowledge of God, and building up congregations. These are scattered in all these States, and in all the principal Territories in our countries. Some of them are found in all the British Provinces, except Newfoundland, in America, in England, Ireland and Scotland, in Wales and [252] Australia, as also in Jamaica. If we could enumerate these, we should find a larger army of them than many think. All of these, true to their principles, and at work where the work is in their reach, and most convenient to them, and so far as they, in any respect, promote the work, advance the cause, and build up the kingdom of God, they are co-operating in the same great work of saving man, and are “laborers together with God.” Their work is “associated effort” in spreading the knowledge of God, and filling the world with his glory. They are standing together as one man, and “striving for the hope of the gospel.”

WE believe that the heart of the great body is true as ever, and that the army is stronger than ever, and there never was a greater determination to maintain every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, than at the present time. A vast army of young men are rising, true as ever lived, determined to maintain their ground, and will maintain it till the last. The pens of many are already employed, and many more are ready for the conflict. Thousands of preachers are in the field fighting the battle, and more are coming, and the ground will be maintained every inch. The Almighty Arm is underneath and will carry the work on.

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THERE is no evidence in Scripture, or in any early writing, of any such practice as washing feet, in time of worship, or associated with worship, either public or private, as a religious rite, an ordinance, an act of devotion, or in any other way. There is no intimation that the washing of the saints’ feet alluded to, I. Tim. v. 10, was a religious rite, or an ordinance connected with worship, any more than lodging strangers. It is put down in the list of “good works,” and not religious rites or devotions.

In like manner, the feet washing mentioned, John xiii. 1–10, was not in time of worship, nor at the time of the Passover, but “before the feast of the Passover,” and after supper, or “supper being ended,” he “rose from supper and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself.” This was not in public at all, but in the private circle. It was not in a meeting, nor in time of worship at all, but after a common meal. The washing of feet was not a new thing with them, nor were any surprised at feet washing, for it was common, and a necessity. That which was new about it, was for the Lord and Master to wash the servants’ feet. Had the order been for the servant to wash the Master’s feet, there would have been nothing new to them in it. But they were abashed at the idea of their Lord and Master washing their [254] feet. With this view, Peter said, “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” The Lord responded, “What I do you know not now; but you shall know hereafter.” Peter persisted, not against feet washing, but against the Lord washing his feet. “Thou shalt never wash my feet.”

If washing the saints’ feet had been a religious rite connected with the communion, how could Paul have omitted it, when giving that which he received of the Lord? See I. Cor. xi. 20–34. He says, “I received of the Lord that which I delivered to you.” He then proceeds to tell us what it was. See I. Cor. xi. 23–25. This was instituted on “the same night in which the Lord was betrayed.” The occasion of the feet washing (John xiii. 1–10) was not on “the same night in which the Lord was betrayed,” but “before the feast of the Passover.” The feast of the Passover was over before the communion was instituted. We think the following is true in regard to the matter: That the feet washing was before the Passover, and the institution of the communion was after it; that two days intervened, and that the two things done were also at two places, the one at one place and the other at another. The washing of feet did not occur at the same time nor in the same place of the institution of the communion, nor is there the least evidence that it ever was practiced in connection with the communion in the primitive church, nor is there the least authority for it.

We have never witnessed anything of the kind, but we have been informed repeatedly that where they practice this ceremony now, they only wash one foot of each person. We would like to know where they get this. It is not in John xiii. 1–10.

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WE desire to see every man succeed who is for the “right way of the Lord,” and hope the Lord and his people will hold up the hands of every such man. We know the Lord will hold up the hands of every such man; never leave him nor forsake him; but will grant him grace and glory, and withhold from him no good thing; and we know, too, his people, when they have time to reflect and the means of knowing before them, will stand by the good and true, the sincere and faithful. They will let religious adventurers pass, and turn their backs on them. They want no charlatans under the garb of religious teachers. Be good and true, faithful and honest, sincere and sound, in the true sense, and there is no danger of the people getting to think you are unsound.

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OUR straightforward and direct appeal to the people to turn their backs on all that is human and accept all that is divine; on all that is of earth, and receive all that is from heaven; to open the Scriptures and receive all that came from the Lord, as set forth in his own revelation; receive the religion of Christ itself, as he has laid it before the world, in his own word, and nothing else, is so manifestly correct, indisputably safe and right, that it can not fail to strike the mind favorably. It is simply a plea to turn away from all human religions, and except the only divine religion. This is the sum and substance of the whole matter. We have thrown overboard all that is human, and simply maintain what is divine. If the Bible can be maintained over all human books; if the religion of Christ can be maintained over all human religions; if the doctrine of the Lord, and the commandments of God, can be maintained over the doctrines and commandments of men; if “the right way of the Lord,” can be maintained over the wrong ways of men, then the plea we have been making can be maintained.

But we should not expect to revolutionize the public mind at once. Such a thing is impossible in the nature of things, and is not desirable. We could not maintain the position if gained in that way. We desire a [257] healthy and a reliable state of things. Sudden revolutions always leave things in an unsettled state. A gradual change is transcendently better. It is, then, not of impulse, sensation or emotion, but of faith. When the testimony comes to the mind gradually, and the faith becomes stronger and stronger, it finally rises to “the full assurance of faith;” a settled conviction, and the soul is established. But the leaven is working in the meal, much faster than many are aware of, and the mind of the people is changing, and the way is opening more and more. We have never seen a reason for a doubt about the righteousness of the cause, and the possibility of maintaining it, since the day we entered it. We are now as firm in the conviction that it is the only true ground, and the only ground that can be maintained, and the only ground on which all the true Israel of God can unite and stand, as we are that the Bible is a divine book. In all this the past year has furnished additional assurances.

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THERE is no such thing in this country as Campbellism, nor is there any such body of people as Campbellites. There is a people in this country that have gone back to our Lord to learn what he gave to the apostles and authorized them to preach, and to the apostles and learned what they preached to the world, and what they taught the church; who receive what the apostles preached and taught, and believe it in full; no more, no less. In this they claim to receive the religion of Christ itself, as he and his authorized ambassadors set it forth. They receive and believe it on the authority of its divine founder, the Lord, from heaven, and enforce it on all who hear them, as the only complete, perfect and divine system in the world; the only true religion; the religion of Christ itself. They claim to be Christians, followers of Christ, children of God. The body to which they belong is simply the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, the church. Christ is their head; their infallibility. They believe on him. They obey him. They hope for all he has promised, and fear all he has threatened. To be in him is to be in his body, in the kingdom, in the church, to be a Christian, a follower of Christ. They receive him and all he has said, but reject all that did not come from him. This is no Campbellism, nor Methodism; but the religion of Christ itself. That is what we are for, and we are for it because it is from God, and has the authority of God in it.

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THEY must be brought to know that they must be revolutionized, created anew, conformed to Christ, and then taught to worship according to the Scriptures. The work is not to be done by wholesale, nor by the device of man. Nor need we think we can take the great cities by getting a few rich or popular men. We must preach the gospel to the people, the whole people, and turn them. The gospel invariably commences with the humbler classes, and works up through them till it reaches all grades. It did not commence by converting emperors, kings, or governors; nor did it reach these for a long time. It did not commence by converting rich men, but mainly with the poor; but in time reached the rich. It did not commence with converting priests, but after a time we read that a great number of priests became obedient to the faith.

In the main, this has been the case in our time. We commenced with the humbler people in the cities and have reached through to every class. We gained the attention of vast numbers of people in the country, and [260] turned them to the Lord, when they were poor. They have been prospered, and gained wealth; gone to the cities, and thus augmented the churches there; but, in many instances, they are not the good people they were, nor loving and maintaining the truth as they once did.

AT Lower Blue Lick, in Robertson County, Kentucky, in the month of September, 1875, Elder Franklin met his beloved father in the gospel and veteran in the cause of reformation, Eld. Samuel Rogers. He thus describes the happy meeting, and expresses his high regard for a true man of God:

One morning when we were in the stand, waiting a few minutes for the audience to assemble and become composed, we saw once more the venerable form of Samuel Rogers, making his way up the aisle. We could scarcely restrain our emotions when we saw the old saint, bringing before our mind in visible form what has been our lifetime idea of one of the old prophets. We met him in the aisle, when he spoke out with the tears tracing down his noble face: “Bro. Ben, I am in the land of the dead and dying, but shall soon be in the land of the living.” We could give utterance to no words. Peter said, in the mountain of [261] transfiguration: “It is good for us to be here.” So it was to us on this occasion. More than forty years had elapsed since we first saw him, and he appeared to us old then. He is now in his eighty-sixth year. He sees to read without glasses by holding the print close to his eyes, and hears better than when we saw him last. He converses with readiness and ease, and his voice is remarkably good. His plain and striking comparisons are as ready as ever. He styles a dry and prosing exhortation, after a good sermon, “snow in August.” He tells a preacher, trying to be learned and profound in his preaching, that he “puts the fodder too high up in the rack—the sheep can’t reach it.” The main trouble is that there is no “fodder” there. He says: “We used to have men and women, but now we have ladies and gentlemen.” He says he still eats his dinner and supper and lets the rest of them dine and take tea.

When at home he spends many hours alone, and some of the friends inquired whether he did not get lonesome. “No,” said he, “I never get lonesome. I talk to the Lord and he talks to me. I talk to him in my prayers, and he talks to me in the Bible.” This is keeping good company, and a glorious way to keep from getting lonesome. He reads up and keeps fully posted in all that is transpiring among us, and is fully alive to all the dangers now threatening the cause—the insidious steps now tending to undermine and overthrow all we have done. Still, like Paul, none of these things move him. He is firm as the everlasting hills. He has settled convictions and purposes, and can not be turned away from them. He can see, as Solomon says, that “one sinner destroyeth much good,” but adheres to another saying of much importance [262] from the same source: “Fret not thyself because of evil-doers.” The Lord is with him and he is as happy as he can be, full of love and good-will to God and man. Thanks be to God for the faith of Christ that has the power to bear up the spirit, to console and comfort him in extreme old age, and opens to his view, now that he is about to let go this world, “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;” and now that he is about to surrender up this life, that opens to his view a life that never ends. Blessed be the Lord who is pleased thus to deal tenderly and kindly with him in his near approach to another world.

BUT may not public opinion, or even the Church, decide wrong? It may, and, no doubt, does sometimes. So may any court, man can establish; and it may turn out that the world may become so bad, or the church may become so perverted or corrupted, that a man can not get a fair decision. Still, it is the best that can be done, for us all to be free alike, before the court of public opinion, and the church, and if we should get a wrong decision here, the last or final appeal is to the court of heaven, to the judgment of the Great Day. But in a country like this, where a man has been among a people all his life; been an [263] upright and true man; conducted himself with consistency and propriety; there must be something very singular in his course, and peculiar indeed, if he can not get a fair hearing and decision from public opinion, or from the church. There must be something very peculiar in his course to unsettle their confidence; to start doubts in their minds in reference to his soundness; to fill the public mind with distrust. There must be something not straightforward.

WE know of no proof that the righteous will be raised a thousand years before the wicked. The Lord says, “The hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.” We see no thousand years between the resurrection of those that have done good and those that have done evil here.

The quotation from John v. 28–29, above, connects the coming of Christ and the resurrection, and the following connects the coming of Christ and the judgment: “I charge you, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing [264] (his coming) and kingdom.” II. Tim. iv. 1. Other Scriptures show the same. At the close of Matt. xxv. it will be seen, as it is from other Scriptures, that all will be judged at the same time, and at the same time that the righteous “enter into life eternal” the wicked “go away into everlasting punishment.” This connects the coming of Christ, the resurrection, the judgment, the separation of the righteous and the wicked, and the entrance into life on the one hand, and the going away into everlasting punishment on the other hand.

We listened to the Millerites in 1843, read pretty much all they wrote about a thousand years’ reign of Christ, between the resurrection of those who are Christ’s and those who are not his, and whatever the thousand years may mean in words, “the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were ended,” we find no clear evidence of its coming between the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. Sundry Scriptures show that the judgment of all, will be at the same time.

Christ sitting on the throne of David does not make him a king, in the temporal sense, as David was, but only that he is in the royal family, and, in the sense of that Scripture, he is now in that reign, and not to be in the Millennium. In the end he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. See I. Cor. xv. 24, 25. “When all things shall be subdued to him, then shall the Son also himself be subject to him, who put all things under him, that God may be all in all.” I. Cor. xv. 28. The Lord has come to receive a kingdom, and is now reigning over that kingdom—a kingdom not of this world—and on David’s throne, in the only sense he ever will be.

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WHO duly appointed the ministry in the Methodist body? A body that is not, and admits that it is not, the body of Christ! Where did this body get authority to appoint a ministry? It has no authority to appoint any thing in the kingdom of God. Who “divinely called” the ministry in the Methodist body? Not the Lord, for he has no Methodist body. He never called a man to minister in a body that he never authorized. The men called in that body were not called of God at all, nor divinely called. They either called themselves, or were called by a body that has no divine authority in it, and therefore are not divinely called. Nor are they divinely qualified. The apostles were divinely qualified. They had the Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth. They never preached any Methodism, nor built up any Methodist churches. They never authorized a Methodist steward, class-leader, circuit-rider, presiding elder, or bishop, any more than they authorized that unmeaning bread and water love-feast, the band-society, the class-meeting, circuit or conference, either quarterly, annual or general. The Methodist church has not a duly-appointed ministry, a divinely-called and sent, or [266] divinely-qualified ministry in it. Its worship, ordinances and discipline are not duly nor scripturally administered. Indeed, it has but little in it that hears any similitude to the original church. To talk of its having a divinely-qualified ministry will strike any one a little acquainted with the Scriptures with peculiar force. A more absurd idea could hardly be uttered.

The apostles were divinely called, sent and qualified, and should one of them appear in a Methodist revival, where persons are “seeking religion,” crying, “What shall we do?” as they did on Pentecost, and answer as Peter did on that occasion, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,” in the place of the loud response, “Amen,” dismay would run all along the line, and the divinely-qualified ministry would want the divinely-qualified apostle out of the meeting. His voice would be a strange voice in their meeting. If he were to tell the seekers, as Ananias did Saul, “Why do you tarry? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord,” they would soon want him out of their meeting.

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THE above named men referred to in the following, were popular evangelists among the sects, and, though not educated for the ministry, or ordained to that holy calling, performed all the functions of those divines who claim to be called and sent of God. The recognition they received in the great cities of the land, by clergymen of all sects, Bro. Franklin regarded as a surrender of their clerical pretensions and as equivalent to an acknowledgment of the fact that any christian man, possessed of good christian character, and a knowledge of the word of God, may preach the word.

J. A. H.  

In the operations of Moody and Sankey, as also others that have conceived virtually the same idea, and their surroundings, we have some lessons of much importance. To some of these we now invite attention:

In all the principal parties there are some clerical pretensions. They nearly all have some kind of clerical standard, that a man must pass, to enter into holy orders at all. They have some kind of regular process through which a man must pass, to be an authorized minister, or to be permitted to minister in holy things at all, or to make [268] ordinances valid administered by his hands, or to give him official grace and functions. But here come Moody and Sankey, Whittle and Bliss, or Hammond, without ever having been tried by the clerical standard, or ever having passed through the regular process to holy orders, and never made clergymen at all, preaching and exercising ministerial functions. All sorts of clergymen are rallying to them, recognizing and indorsing their work! What becomes of clerical pretensions in all this? Clergymen of all sorts recognizing and indorsing laymen preaching, and laymen exercising all the functions of the ministry, who have never been measured by the ministerial standard, and never have been made clergymen. In this they are conceding that their clerical pretensions and claims are empty—that there is nothing in them, that men that have never been measured by the standard, nor made clergymen at all, have as good a right to preach and minister in holy things as they. In this they concede that the clerical cloak is nothing, and that men can and may rightfully preach the word of God, without having it on. The people ought to lay hold of this concession, read the Scriptures, learn them and teach others, and thus go on till they fill the earth with the knowledge of God. No man need wait to have clerical hands laid on him to authorize to preach Jesus, or teach the saints in the way of righteousness. To know the gospel and the teaching of Christ, and be able to preach Christ and teach saints the way to heaven, prepares any man to preach and teach. To appear in a proper manner and exercise a good influence in preaching and teaching, a man must be a christian, [269] and have a good life as such, a life of piety and devotion, corresponding to the preaching and teaching. But a man is in no shape to appear before the world as a preacher of Christ, and a teacher in the kingdom of God, who has no standing in the church of God, where his home is, and a good recommendation to satisfy those abroad that his standing is good at home.

ON going to the depot we found our information about car time was wrong, and we got to the depot just in time to see the train go out and leave us. This has two lessons in it: 1. That it is not true “that what a man thinks is right, is right to him.” The time we thought was right proved not to be right. 2. That we ought to be cautious about saying, “There is time enough yet.”

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CHURCHES should not be compelled to hear preaching every Lord’s day, and that the dullest and dryest kind, from the same man, the same thing, over and over again; but instead of this, have a variety of good songs; sundry readings of interesting Scriptures, from different persons, each occupying from five to ten minutes, with two or three prayers at suitable intervals, and words of exhortation. The overseer who can so conduct these matters as to interest the whole congregation, develop and bring out the most talent, and make the whole the most conducive to the edification of all, is the most efficient and successful overseer, whether he can preach or not himself. No man, overseer or not, ought to appear before the people publicly more than is acceptable to them. Many men kill themselves off by talking too much and being too officious.

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BUT what was to be done? What was all this about? We are ashamed, for humanity’s sake, to tell. It was to see a bishop pow-wow over a corner stone, bless it and lay it for a Romish meeting house! That was what all this was about! What was there in that? No more than any other pagan ceremony. No more than to see any other Irishman laying any other stone or brick in any other building, aside from tradition and superstition. This is the procedure of the Anti-christ, the Man of Sin, the power gone out to deceive the whole world with sorceries; a compound of Judaism, Paganism and Christianity, but described in the book of God as the Apostasy. It has corrupted the four quarters of the earth with its abominations and idolatries. It has two hundred millions of the human race under its domination. It has caused the blood of fifty millions of martyrs to flow. But the tide is receding. The wheel is turning back. His secular power has departed. He does not have Victor Emmanuel to bow down and kiss his great toe, nor to come and crave favors of him. But he goes to Victor Emmanuel to know what favors he can have. This puts the shoe on the other foot. Prince Bismarck banishing the Jesuits from Germany, is another turn in the same [272] direction. The revolution in Mexico is in the same direction. The Pope gets no favors in all these moves. He is strengthening his hands in the United States a little just now, but this is only temporary, and, we trust, will only serve to open the eyes of the people in this country. Our people need a few demonstrations to rouse them from their slumbers. They need to be made sensible who they are that want their drinking saloons, and want them open on Sundays, that intend to parade our streets with bands of music and long processions on the Lord’s day, who they are that are trying to undermine our common schools and ruin them, who they are that publish in our faces that our marriages are all null and void—that we are all living in adultery because we were not married by priests! We need a little more of this impudence in our faces to rouse us up and cause us to see the viper we have taken into our bosoms, and see what claim this Mystery of Iniquity has on our charities.

It refuses to allow its adherents to become members of the Masonic order, because it is a secret Order. The trouble is that it is a secret Order itself, with its sworn members and bound priests, its prowling Jesuits, nuns and friars, the most dangerous and complete and perfect—the consummation of all secret Orders, from the hired girl in the kitchen, and the hired man on the farm, up through every position held, every situation in life, and every office held by a Papist, to communicate intelligence to a set of men bound up in this Order of secrecy, who are not even citizens in our Government, that they may report to the Holy See in Rome! It is a secret, Pagan and [273] Jewish mixture with Christianity; an intriguing, insidious and stealthy scheme, prying into the secrets of every nook and corner of every land, and every move of every civil government on earth, and a friend to no civil government on the face of the earth, only so far as it can be made subservient to the purposes of the Pope.

The new Cardinal in this country is a minion of the Pope, and, without being a citizen of the United States, when he pleases to do so, will control the vote of some six millions of our population; and this all done by the secret workings of the Papacy, without any man seeing the secret wires that are pulled to do it. These priests, bound all over by religious vows or oaths, in a secret conclave, plan schools to be taught by nuns, all in the secret Order, and gather up vagrant children, while many of their own children are beggars, to make Romanists of them, and shut them out from the light of the common schools and colleges of this country.

Then how do these priests propose to gain power? Do they propose to come out in open day; publicly teach the people and enlighten them? Not a word of it. Do they propose to discuss their claims? Not a bit of it. How then are they doing this work? Insidiously. It is all in the dark, except an occasional demonstration like that we had here on the first Lord’s day in July. What were the people taught on that day? Did any one hear any instruction? Thousands of dollars were expended. Thousands of people were weary and exhausted, but no one was enlightened. No one was taught even Romanism, except those, who from the word of God have learned the power of the grand delusion, the mystery of iniquity that now works. They can understand the power of the sorceries practiced to deceive and allure unwary souls.

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THE mission of unbelief, in this direction, is—

First. To force the Bible to agree with the Atheist, in theory, that a man’s conduct in this life, no matter what it may be, can not destroy his happiness in another life.

Second. That there shall be no reward in another world, for virtue, righteousness and obedience rendered to God in this life.

Third. That there shall be no punishments in the world to come, for disobedience, corruption, and crime, committed in this life.

Fourth. That the death of Christ amounts to nothing, as the consequences of sin all follow now, and fall upon man just as they did before he died.

Fifth. That repentance amounts to nothing, as the punishment of sin is simply the natural result of a violation of a natural law, and must follow its violation whether you repent or not.

Sixth. That there is no pardon of sin—that as you put your hand in the fire, the burn must follow—as you spend your money, you must become poor—as you dissipate, your physical energies must be impaired; so, as you sin, in all cases the penalty must follow.

Seventh. All this being conceded, the grace of God is at an end. There is no such an attribute as mercy in the government of Jehovah. [275]

Eighth. No love of God is manifested either in the life or death of Jesus, nor has his death produced any change in the world.

No wonder that infidels hail this theory with joyfulness, flock around the Universalian preacher, and call him “brother.” His operations are fatal to the Bible, to the mission and divine authority of the Lord Jesus, and better calculated to turn the whole subject of religion into ridicule, than any open infidelity ever advocated in the world. By this kind of circumlocution, the Bible is now sought to be subverted, and its influence upon the world destroyed. But all men of discernment can see, that this is only a scheme to pull down and destroy—that it has no efficacy to save, to make good, or improve mankind—that it can do no good, in any event, to one soul of our race, either in this world or the world to come. It is only an instrument, one of the most effectual instruments of unbelief, in destroying all good, all virtue, and all piety.

[276]

DENYING the personality of the Devil. Here we have more negative preaching—more denying. What a world of gospel there is in this! Who is to be saved by denying the personality of the Devil? Who is comforted and built up with this sort of stuff? The infidel laughs. The Universalist nods assent; but who repents? The scoffer is delighted. That is the man for him! But does he quit scoffing? We have recently heard of a man who had stripped his feet bare after a rain of a warm summer’s day, and, walking up through the mud to an old preacher, denied the personality of the Devil; when the preacher, pointing behind the man, replied: “He must be alive and personal, for there is his track fresh in the mud!” Another preacher allowed that when the Devil has a man so completely blinded that he does not believe there is any Devil, or that he is a personal being, he never expects to have any more trouble with him. He will never listen to the truth any more.

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THAT there should be occasionally a young man, with the views that have been fostered and encouraged by some among us, of a “pastorate,” who would assume authority to cast persons out of the church, and give letters of commendation, is not strange. There were some even in the time of the apostles, when no such views of a “pastorate” existed, who assumed such prerogatives and “prated against us” (the apostles.) In III. John 9, 10, we have a reference to one of them. “I wrote to the church,” says John, “but Diotrephes, who loves to have the pre-eminence among them, receives us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and forbids them that would, and casts them out of the church.” We have fallen on the track of a few young men, and some old ones, of this stripe; but their race is short. The brethren, whatever else is true of them, are not prepared for clerical assumptions. They will not have the manacles put on them. Such men will not trouble us long. Some of them will go over to sectarianism at once, thinking that the shortest road [278] to a “pastorate.” Others will go to law, medicine, or to nothing. But the main body of our young men are true and noble in the highest sense, as humble and faithful as can be found anywhere. They are studying to know and do the will of God. We are not sure that, as a class, they are not generally sounder than their instructors in the gospel.

We regret to see anything like collision or rivalry between old and young preachers. Young men get a little fast sometimes, and old men become a little cross; but these matters will all work their way out. As a humorous writer said some years ago, after writing a long piece about nothing, as a burlesque on certain persons, “We are all poor critters.” We need a great deal of mercy and grace.

It is a little trying for old men, after toiling a lifetime in the cause, and when they are struggling under the infirmities of age, to be shoved aside, as we know some of them are, and treated with contempt by the young men who ought to be a comfort and consolation to them. The cause is the Lord’s, and we are his, and we shall all give account to him. Let us keep pure ourselves, and keep the church pure; let us make a record of which we shall not be ashamed when the Lord shall come. We must study to bear our burdens, and to do so without murmuring. What we can not cure, we must endure.

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EVERLASTING and eternal are from the same in the original. “Everlasting punishment,” and not everlasting annihilation, nor everlasting extinction of being, nor everlasting non-existence, is what the Lord threatens. Matt. xxv. 46. At the same time the righteous enter into “life eternal,” the wicked “go away into everlasting punishment.” The original word aionion here is translated, in the common version, “eternal” in one place, and “everlasting” in the other. There is no reason for not translating this word the same way in both places. It means precisely the same in both places. At the same time we repeat, that the righteous enter into “life eternal,” the wicked “go away into eternal punishment.” The same word used by the Lord, in the same sentence to express the duration of the life of the saints, is used to express the duration of the punishment of the wicked. It is as likely that the life of the saints shall terminate, as that the punishment of the wicked shall cease. There is no word in any language that more certainly expresses unlimited duration than this word aionion. It is used to express the duration of the life of the saints, the praises of God, and even the existence of God. A word may be used with less than its full import, but never with more.

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IT matters not from what cause we suffer, whether inability on the part of brethren, or parsimoniousness, we must bear hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, suffer and toil on, for we shall reap if we faint not. We must not raise up a money-loving and worldly people; and in order to this end we must not be money-loving preachers, nor worldly men ourselves. This is our security against the evil of covetousness.

We do not believe the Lord will accept meeting in two or three conventions in a year, and making three or four contributions and a few speeches for missionary work. We must have more telling evangelizing than this. This kind of work is demoralizing the brethren and drying up all the veins of generosity in them. We shall have more and more dying churches till we change our course and go out into the field as we did thirty-five and forty years ago, and hunt up these churches and wake them up. We must not live with the idea of sending some one to them, but we must go to them; and they must not be helpless creatures, and think to support those who go to their relief by relating their stories about their being few and poor, but do according to their ability, and not let the preacher who visits them sacrifice more than a dozen of them, and they only do their little occasionally, and he making his sacrifices every meeting. This will not stand in the day of judgment.

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ALL we have to do to stand right before the people, is to be sound in heart, in the faith, in the life; true to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; honest and faithful in the whole matter; maintaining, defending, advocating it, as the only divine and gracious system for the salvation of a lost world; enforcing it on men for its own sake, and for the sake of humanity. Our safety is not in a tribunal of learned men, who are censors for us, but in the judgment of an intelligent and enlightened brotherhood. They render no hasty judgment and make no uncertain decisions. They do not anathematize nor hate any man. They do not pronounce on a man for a single utterance or an inadvertence. But when a man becomes perverse, his general course and bearing evincing alienation, and a disposition to be in the wrong—an aversion to the good, the true and the faithful—they begin to lose their interest in him. Every step he takes in the wrong direction lessens the affection for him in the hearts of the people of God, till he finds himself cut off, if not literally by the action of a church, that which is equally as fatal, the general turning away from him, and utter failure in any sense to support him.

May we all maintain soundness in the faith, in the gospel, integrity to it, faithfulness to it in all things, soundness in character, purity and holiness. May we strive to live nearer and still nearer to God.

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IF a person has delayed turning to the Lord, till some hindrance comes, so that he can not take the steps, or do what the Lord has commanded, to become a christian, he has simply delayed till he can not become a christian. If he defers on any account, he simply defers becoming a christian. At some point, a man passes the possibility of becoming a christian. That point, or period, is generally thought to be at death. Some still sing, “While the lamp holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return,” but this is not true. It is true that after death none can turn to God, but it is not true that before death all can turn to God. The apostle speaks of some men who were living in the literal sense, but whom he compares to “trees twice dead and plucked up by the roots. Such a tree as that never grows again.” He speaks of other men “past feeling,” and others, still living, for whom nothing remains “but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries,” and still others for whom nothing remains but “the blackness of darkness forever.” Some are given over to believe the lie and be condemned.

[283] Our opinions are worth nothing in reference to those who can not do what the Lord commands. We do not know a thing about the salvation of any person only as the Lord has promised. He has promised that “He who believes and is immersed, shall be saved,” and commanded, “Repent, and be immersed every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.” He who obeys the command has the promise. Outside of this we know nothing about it. Not only so, but if we give some charitable opinions for those who can not obey, or in reference to deferring, on account of hindrances, these cases will become more frequent, and these opinions will be applied not simply to cases where persons can not obey, but where they can not conveniently, and in a short time we have a system of salvation for those who never obey, and the gospel is set aside by our opinions.

There are but few sick persons that can not be immersed. We have immersed some half-dozen in the most critical situations, and some of them in less than two days of their death, without any physical injury, and with great relief to the mind. But we only allude to this to show that there are not many cases where it is not possible to obey the gospel, and not because this is the time to obey. It is not the proper time to be baptized, or to make a profession. The proper time is when persons first hear and believe the gospel; when their health, and strength, and reason, are unimpaired, and they can voluntarily yield themselves to the service of God. When we come to die, one promise of God is worth more than all the opinions of uninspired men put together.

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“THE sword of the Spirit” is defined by the Spirit himself, through Paul. It is the word of God. “Why is it called the sword of the Spirit? Because the Spirit gave it, and not because he uses or wields it.” The Spirit gave it to men that they might use or wield it. There is not a more unsupported theory in this apostate age than the one that teaches that the Spirit wields the sword. He did not do this even in the age of miracles. Jesus said to his Father “The words that thou gavest me I have given them.” Given to whom? To the apostles. What did he tell them to do with these words, or, which is the same, the gospel? He commanded them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Preaching the gospel is preaching the word, or wielding the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. After Jesus died and rose and ascended into heaven, he sent the Spirit to guide the apostles into all truth; to bring all things to their remembrance. On Pentecost the Spirit came, and they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance. The history says, “When they heard this”—the word spoken—“they were pierced in their heart.” The Spirit brought the word to their remembrance, and the apostles preached it—spake as the Spirit gave them utterance. In Solomon’s porch, Peter preached, or wielded the [285] sword—the word of God. Philip wielded the sword in Samaria. Peter wielded the sword at the house of Cornelius. Paul commanded Timothy to “Preach the word.” This was wielding the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

This whole theory about the word being a dead letter, whether so intended or not, is the very thing to neutralize the gospel, and cause honest people who believe the gospel, to wait for some immediate power to do something more for them before they come to God. This very theory, in the place of being Scriptural, is directly opposed to the very spirit and intention of the Scriptures, and is, we doubt not, chargeable with hindering more souls from turning to the Lord and receiving the salvation of God than all the out-and-out infidelity in the country. They hear the word of God—the gospel of their salvation—the power of God to salvation to every one that believe it, and honestly believe it. They hear the preaching of the cross of Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God, and believe it with their whole hearts; but the preacher says you must wait till the Spirit makes it effectual, and till the Spirit quickens you and prepares you to receive it, about which there is not one word in the book of God.

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WE belong to no sect or heresy, no “denomination,” and recognize none in any sense, only as existing in opposition to the will of God—in a rebellion against the government of God. We know sects only as antagonistic powers to the law and kingdom of God. They are heretical and schismatical, in alienation to each other and to the kingdom of God. We find them in no complete union on anything of importance, except in opposing the gospel of Christ. In this they are a unit. Never did loving brethren more completely unite than they one and all do in this. One voice sounding out the gospel precisely as preached by the apostles, and propounding the terms of pardon as they came from the ambassador of Jesus, to whom he gave the keys of the kingdom of God, will silence all their jars among themselves, their differences and disputes, and bring them all around side by side, facing the common foe. It will call out their confusion of tongues, and the cry, “Lo! here, and lo there,” will be heard on all hands. The cry is raised. “To your tents, O Israel! to your tents! Danger! danger! dangerous doctrine! Do not hear him! Keep away! keep away! He will unsettle your views!”

Why are they all opposed to this? There is a very good reason for it. It is opposed to all of them. In its very nature it proposes to sweep [287] them all away. It leaves not an inch of ground for one of them to stand on. We came not with a new doctrine, but with the gospel of Christ, a distinct entity in itself, not only having no fellowship with any other gospel, but pronouncing a curse on man or angel who shall preach any other, no matter whether near like it or not near like it—a perversion of it or mutilation. The gospel of Christ itself is the thing to be preached, and nothing else; the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; the preaching of the cross, the wisdom of God, and the power of God. To this nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be taken away. In this gospel, Christ, the “one Shepherd,” is presented, and the one kingdom of God, or one body of Christ. All the followers of Christ are members of this one body, or citizens of this one kingdom. There are no “denominations” of them. They are all members of his body, citizens of his kingdom by faith, the children of Abraham, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, saints, holy brethren. They know no other king but the “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Their King, in his times, will “show who is the only Potentate.” Their King has no negotiations with any other spiritual kings. He puts them down against him. He has no communications nor negotiations with Pope Pius, or any other Pope. He has no fraternal greetings for any of them, but his Father has sworn with an oath that he shall reign till he shall put down all rule and all authority and power—till he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The kingdom of Christ recognizes no other kingdom. It is an absolute monarchy. Christ is the Monarch. He has no Parliament, no Senate or [288] Congress, no legislative body in his kingdom. As the rightful Sovereign and the absolute Monarch, he is the Law-giver. His will is the law, as spread on the pages of Scripture—the absolute authority—and his subjects have simply to consult the law, ascertain what it requires, and obey it. They are not responsible for the law. They need not trouble themselves about results or consequences. Do as the Supreme Authority commands, and leave the consequences with him. He is so wise, good and great, that he will bring all out right, for all those that put their trust in him. His subjects stop not to counsel with those who have other laws, to compare them with the law of the Lord Messiah, to see how near they are to his, or how far from it. They have no authority to make any other laws, no matter how near like his law, or how far from it. Their business is to throw aside all other laws, and accept him as their Monarch, and his law, and obey it. This is simply all there is of it. He who is not for him is against him.

The citizens of his kingdom have no authority from him for negotiating with any sectarian party, about union with his people, comparing their views and determining how nearly they agree. He has left them no discretionary power to compromise with anybody, or to stipulate terms of union and fellowship. He has stipulated the terms for us all. If we comply with these terms he receives us, and we are bound to receive each other, and certainly will desire to do so. If we comply not with these terms he will not receive us, and no saint has any right to receive us. No man has a right to prescribe terms on which to receive [289] any man. The terms are already prescribed in the law of the great King. We must not go to man, but to the King, to know who shall be received. It is not a question whether man will receive us, but whether the Lord will receive us.

WHO, in the midst of all this demoralization, will stand for God, for the anointed and for the eternal Spirit; for the only supreme and absolute, the final authority, the revelation from God to man, as set forth in the Bible? We must maintain this or we shall be ruined forever. We must resist all broad-guagism, liberalism, this terrible demoralization, and maintain the purity of the religion of Christ itself. We have taken our stand on the highest ground and must maintain the highest purity and order, the greatest perfection and refinement of which we are capable. We must maintain pure morality, pure faith and worship, utter abstinence from follies and all doubtful practices, all things held in suspicion among good people. It is a time for general humiliation and supplication—one mighty and united appeal of all the true and holy to heaven to save us from the general avalanche of iniquity that threatens the ruin of the country, and specially of religion. Jews may look on with a sneer, infidels may mock and scoff, [290] and hell may appear to exult; but the Lord God the Omnipotent reigns, and the wicked will be overthrown. It matters not how popular they may be, how great their talent, how much money they may have, nor how great their number, the strong arm of the Almighty can reach them and bring them down. Their doom is certain.

WHERE has God forbidden infant baptism? Where has he forbidden sprinkling for baptism? Where has he forbidden the offering of incense, the counting of beads, in worship? What harm is there in all this? This is sophistry, deception, delusion, and that, too, of a very low and unworthy order at that. Where is the divine authority for doing this or that? If there is no divine authority for doing this or that, in religion, or worship, that very circumstance is divine authority against it. “Who hath required this at your hand?” is the inquiry of the word of God, to all such as introduce things into religion or worship, not authorized in Scripture. We may add nothing to the religion of Christ, the faith or practice, the precept or example, the worship, the rewards or punishments. [291]

Those who consider themselves free to do anything not forbidden in Scripture, are out at sea, pretty much cut loose from the Bible. They have in their horizon a broad range. They are not in search of divine authority, not engaged in that for which there is divine authority, but things for which there is no divine authority—things not forbidden. They are not studying how to do the commandments, but whether men can not be saved without doing the commandments; how to obey the gospel, but how men can be saved without obeying the gospel; not how to build up the church of God, set it in order and keep it in order; how to worship according to the Scriptures; but how to make the church attractive, entertaining and popular. Their theme is not the gospel, nor is their mission turning the world from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; but to so model and fashion the church as to please the world as it is, in its unconverted state, without the work of turning it to God. Let them have their way, and the church, in a short time, will be so let down that men will need no conversion to come into it. There will be no cross nor self denial in it. Be careful and not fall “into the trap,” as Luther did. If there is no divine authority for a thing, that is enough. We need no Scripture forbidding it.

We can unite on the things required in Scripture—the things commanded—but we never can unite on the things not forbidden. There are too many of this latter class; they are too various, contradictory and inconsistent. Let us stick to the things that are written. These are divinely authorized. The things not written are not divinely authorized. Let us stand to the prescribed terms of pardon, the prescribed life of the saints, and the prescribed worship. Those who depart from this are going back.

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WHEN we say the body, we do not mean any sort of body, or any kind of body, but the body of Christ; the one body into which all were immersed in the time of the apostles. This is the same as in “the Church of God,” “the kingdom of God.” The body of Christ has no branches except the individual members. There are no branch bodies. The kingdom of God has no branches. Every citizen is in the kingdom, and those not in the kingdom are not citizens at all.

The Church of God, the body of Christ, or the kingdom, is a divine institution. The Lord built his church on the rock, and no man who understands the matter, “loves the Lord Jesus Christ with all his soul” while he says, “I care not to what church a man identifies himself.” The man who identifies himself with the Church of God, or the body of Christ, identifies himself with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit—with the entire heavenly family. This is what we care for. But identifying a man with those bodies styled branches is another matter. We can not love the Lord Jesus Christ with all the soul and care not whether we are identified with his body, or, which is the same, with him or some other body or person. [293]

But let us inquire about these branches. Are they branches of the Church of God? The Church of God has never branched any that we know of. The body of Christ has no branches except the individual members and they all belong to the body, and not to a branch of the body. A man is simply in the body, or not in it. The kingdom of God has no branches. A man is simply a citizen, or he is not. If our correspondent desires to know whether he is in a branch of the Church of God let him trace the branch with which he is identified back to where it branched off, and see what it branched off from; whether it branched off from another branch, or from the main body. If it branched off from another branch, then he might trace that other branch and see what it branched off from. Before he gets back to the body he may find some branches that are no credit to anybody.

The departures from the body and from the law of God are not honored as branches of the body. They are styled in Scripture a “falling away,” the apostasy. They are departures from God, from Christ and from the Holy Spirit. The great apostasy is styled the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. That is the first branch. We do not want to be identified with it, or any branch of it, or any branch of a branch of it. We have gone back to the body of Christ from which it departed, and become identified with that body itself, and will recognize no departure from it, no matter how many pretty names may be given to it, nor how many [294] good people belong to it, but will still hold it to be an apostasy, or a departure from God. There can be no union in branches only branch union; there can be union in the one body, in the one faith, under the one Lord, and nowhere else, such as the Lord will approve.

THERE is no half-way fellowship to which we can receive persons, and allow them all the privileges we enjoy, and they not in full fellowship. It is not a question about our receiving a person, but the Lord receiving the person. The very act in which the penitent sinner comes and is received by the Lord is baptism. When he comes in full assurance of faith and penitence, and is immersed into Christ, the Lord receives him. All we do in the matter is to execute the law of Christ. The entire matter of inquiry is about how the Lord receives persons. This is all we inquire about.

When we turn aside from the way the Lord receives persons, and receive them in some other way, it is no difference what that other way is. It may be styled more liberal than the way in which the Lord receives persons, but the Lord does not propose to present something more liberal than men; but he is a Law-giver, and lays down the law on which he will receive men, and if men desire him to receive them, they must [295] come in the way laid down in his law. But if we only desire to be received by men, we can consult them and learn the terms on which they will receive us; but when we act thus we must not deceive ourselves, and think we are becoming servants of the Lord in so doing. We are simply becoming servants of men.

IN what sense except an extremely general one are the Romish, Episcopalian, Methodist and Presbyterian clergy of one class? Not that there is much fraternity, fellowship or agreement among them; nor even that there is any general sympathy, harmony or co-operation; nor that they are engaged in one work. They belong to separate kingdoms. In their official acts they never act together. If they act together at all, it is not officially, nor in any sense, only on certain occasions, to be friendly, courteous and polite toward each other, but with the distinct understanding that it is not official. Their actions are as distinct as those of a United States Congressman and a member of the British Parliament. They are both officers of State, and so far on common ground, and, as such, treat each other with respect and courtesy; but, in their official acts, they have no fellowship, and are [296] not under the same government. In the same way the clergy of the different parties we have mentioned, in their official acts never act together, and have no fraternity. They are not acting under the same government, nor are they officers in the same kingdom. The official acts of one of them are not regarded by another at all.

In what sense, then, are they classed together, or what is it that is common among them? Simply that they are ministers of religion, or men whose lives are devoted to religious instruction, and matters of church. But not of the same order, nor of the same church; not of the same religion; not of the same faith, nor of the same practice. They do not speak the “same thing,” nor are they of the “same mind and the same judgment,” or “perfectly joined together.” They are not of the “one fold and one shepherd.” They are not “one as we” (the Father and the Son) “are one;” nor were they “all baptized into one body,” nor are they in “one body,” with “one Spirit” and “one hope,” under “one Lord,” and with “one faith,” and “one baptism,” and “one God and Father of all, who is above all, and in you all.”

We have not a railing accusation to bring against these men as a class, nor do we hate or denounce them; nor have we an unkind feeling toward them. We can recognize every good trait they have; all the moral influence, the learning and intelligence, as well as their devotion to their several causes. We can make all reasonable allowance for early training, association and education, and admit all their good intentions. We can treat them with all the common courtesies and civilities of an enlightened and a refined age, as gentlemen, and moral and orderly men. All this and much more we can do. What we can not do [297] is not from any unkind feeling toward them, nor because they have treated us with a special indignity, or given us any personal offence, or anything of the kind. But it is because we can not, without setting aside principle that we are as certain is correct as we are that the Bible contains a revelation from God, recognize their airs, pretensions and claims. We can not without ignoring, overriding and utterly disregarding matters of the most vital, fundamental and central importance. It is not the class of men that we denounce, or that we speak against, but the positions they assume, the work they are doing and the obstruction they are in the way of the work of Christ.

THE people of the world look upon a member of the church, that enters the dance, as let down, degraded, and his profession trailed in the dust. “Look there,” he exclaims, “that lady is a member of the church. I saw her immersed, and have seen her commune; she is no better than I am, and I know I am no Christian.” If the dancing professors could hear the numerous remarks thus made, in regard to their letting themselves down, degrading their profession and putting themselves on a level with the world, or below that level, their faces would burn, if they were not too much hardened to exercise a lively conscience. [298]

We are only deceiving ourselves, and that too, most woefully, if we think that the dancers, theater-goers, horse-racers, gamblers and drunkards, claiming to be members of a church, are on their way to heaven. Their baptism is all nothing. Their communion is mockery, an insult to the Majesty of heaven and earth. Their sitting in choirs and taking into their polluted lips the pure words of praises, supplications and thanksgiving, in the midst of the pure worship of saints, is a desecration of the appointments of God.

When we think of saving men, we must not think merely of getting them into immersion, or into the church, but, in the true sense, we must turn them to God—turn them from their sins. The love of sin must be destroyed in them, and the love of God established. They must, in the full import of the term, be made “new creatures,” conformed to the image of Christ. We must see in them not simply a desire to see how near they can be like the world, and not be excluded from the church; how deep they can dip into the follies of the world, and not be lost; how near the verge of perdition they can run and not fall in. But they must “love not the world, nor the things of the world,” make it a matter of prayer, and study how to live and walk with God; how to have the continual care and gracious providence of God over them. No man is a profitable member of the church, that simply escapes being turned out, any more than he is a good citizen who barely escapes fines, imprisonment and the gallows, or who does everything and any thing that [299] the law does not expressly forbid. A man may be a bad and worthless fellow and not be fined nor imprisoned. So a member of the church may be bad, and not only worthless but injurious to the church, and not be turned out. There may not be enough spiritual life, moral standing and respect for the law of God, in the church, to enforce the law of Christ.

May we awake to the state of things, cry aloud and spare not, and never cease our supplications to heaven till we see an improvement. We are only deceived in dancers to allow them to remain in the church, and thus permit them to enjoy the idea that they are Christians.

SAVED WITHOUT BAPTISM.

JESUS don’t say, “He that is not baptized shall be damned.” Suppose he does not. Baptism is a commandment. To do a commandment is an act of obedience. To refuse to do a commandment is to refuse to do an act of obedience. The Lord will take vengeance on them who know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But our friend says, “I believe if a man willfully and stubbornly refuses to receive the ordinance of baptism, that man will be lost.” What, then, of all those people who have the Bible in their houses, printed plainly in their [300] mother tongue, and know that baptism is commanded, or may know it, as certainly as they know their names, and will not be baptized? And what of the preachers who encourage them in it? The Lord’s will is that they should obey—be baptized. They refuse to do this. They know his will and do it not. Will they be saved?

But there are cases in which baptism is impossible. There are cases where the gospel can not be administered. Where the gospel can not be administered, we can not have the promise of the gospel. But will they not be saved by the atonement? The atonement is the reconciliation, and reconciliation is by the Mediator, or by the belief and obedience of the gospel. But what of those who can not hear the gospel? They are not gospel subjects. The gospel can not be administered to them. What will you do with them? Nothing. Where the gospel can be made known preach it to the people. Where they can believe and obey it, urge them to do it, that they may be saved. Gospel salvation is the only salvation we have anything to do with. It is freely and graciously offered to men who believe and obey the gospel. The work of the preacher is to preach the gospel to all and exhort all to obey it, showing that “God commands all men everywhere to repent,” and that this repentance is in view of the judgment.

But what of infants? Gospel salvation, or the salvation of the commission, is salvation from sin, or remission of sins. Infants have never sinned, and need no remission of sins. They need nothing only precisely what a saint needs—to be raised from the dead, changed, immortalized and glorified.

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WHAT do we want recognition of any sects for? What do we want to come on a level with them for? Not one of them has a creed that is indorsed by any party but his own. There is not a party in Christendom that receives or believes the Methodist creed except the Methodist party. The same is true of every other party. Their creeds are not even popular, only as they agree in the human-creed idea that they must have a human creed. What a coming down, for a man that has a creed that they all believe—the Bible—to come down on a level with a man, standing on a little side platform, discarded by every religious party, in the world, except his own. We do not want his recognition and do not intend to recognize him till he abandons his side platform. The Evangelical Alliance have been trying, twenty-five years or more, to make a platform and are as far from making one that these parties can stand on as they were at the beginning. What use have we for tampering in this way? We have a creed that every party in Christendom admits to be right. The Bible is that creed. We have a doctrine that they all admit to be right—“all Scripture given by inspiration of God,” as Paul says, “is profitable for doctrine.” There is no doubt about it. We have “the faith once for all delivered to the saints”—the [302] belief “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” and not a party among all the contending parties doubt or denies this faith. The doubts are not about what we hold, but about what these others hold. We hold and practice no doubtful baptism. The burial of a penitent believer in baptism is valid baptism with all the parties of any note.

We can take down the books from their own libraries and show from their standard works that all we hold, teach and practice, is found in their main works, indorsed and sanctioned in numerous ways. We are not standing upon any doubtful ground. We know we are right, and what remains for us to do is to make every possible effort to attain to a more perfect practice of what we know to be right, and not be trying to get recognition from any of these modern parties. They will never indorse us till we abandon our ground, and this, many among us will never do.

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FIRST. This matter of gaining wealth does not depend altogether nor chiefly on loving money. If it depended altogether or chiefly on loving money, many more would gain wealth than do, for no doubt more love money as ardently as those that obtain it. Men who love money devote themselves to schemes of money-making, or what they consider such, and, in some instances, break at it, and come out bankrupt. A. Campbell never did devote himself to making money. But he was right in two respects: 1. He was a good manager in temporal things. 2. He was an economist. He knew the use of money and never wasted it. He built no fine houses, rode in no fine carriages and drove no fine horses. He was a plain man. He had everything necessary for comfort and nothing for show. We think he lived in the same house in which he was married, adding considerable, but plain buildings to it, affording accommodations for his numerous guests, but nothing costly or fine, in any part of it. In this he was a noble example. On the one hand not an indication of parsimoniousness, and on the other, not an item of extravagance. The same was true of the entire outfit, furniture, table and all. There was an abundance for all, and nothing wasteful or extravagant. [304]

Second. This thing of gaining wealth is not fully to be explained. It is not to be ascribed entirely to the art of man, to his great business capacity, his industry or energy, for we find plenty of men that have these qualities, but accumulate but little. Wealth gathers round some men as naturally as it departs from others, when no man can see the reason. Some call it fortune, others luck, and, in other cases we say, they know how to make it. True, there must be the industry, the energy, the management and economy; there must be the good judgment, sagacity, etc. These are main articles in running the world, but wealth bears no just proportion to these. We speak not of a fortuity, which brings an estate at once, but of the growing up of an estate. There is something lying back of all industry, economy, management, foreseeing sagacity, etc., call it fate, luck, fortune or providence, or what we may, that no philosophy or reason can fully explain. Men accumulate a vast estate without struggling for it, aiming at it, or seeming to think about it. Alex. Campbell was of this class. We can see that he managed well, that he wasted nothing, that he saw that business was in shape, etc., but this does not account for the amount that accumulated around him. Much of it came in a way that he knew not, and certainly never planned.

Third. Alex. Campbell did not raise himself up. God raised him, not for himself, nor for us to glory in him, but for his own glorious purpose, and he did not leave him without the means to accomplish that great purpose. He always provides a way for a man to do the work for which he has raised him up. Alex. Campbell could not have gone, as he did, at his own charges, traveling thousands of miles, and for many [305] long months at a time, and through immense districts of country, where he had no kind brethren to entertain him and support him, if the means had not been provided. Nor could he have started, maintained and sent forth a publication, coming in collision with all the religious publications in the world without the means to sustain him. God provided him the means, so that he never lacked. No man ever had the power to stop his mouth by cutting off his support. He stood independent, except upon God, who was with and prospered him. How could he have founded a seminary first and then a magnificent college and prosecuted his great work without means? How could he have supplied his extension table, always extended in his long dining hall, along which the vast numbers that visited him at all seasons, but specially on commencement occasions, sat, were fed and satisfied, and went away admiring their noble host, of whose munificence they had partaken, had not the Lord prospered him? God enabled him to give examples in generosity, hospitality, and to push on his great work. It was of the highest importance that he should be free from all pecuniary pressure and embarrassment, and the Lord kept him in that condition all the time—made “all grace abound” to him. Growing rich and money making from the love of money, or money’s sake, were ideas that occupied no place in his great mind or heart. He made and used money, as God intended it, as a means for doing the work of God, and means that the work could not have been done without. [306]

Fourth. But how did so large an estate accumulate if he did not love money, or love “filthy lucre?” We answer that a large amount of his estate came to him as he explained to us, when we visited him, in the only conversation we ever had with him about his temporal affairs, and that a very brief one. We can not remember the particulars, but we do remember distinctly all that is of any interest here. Several large items—items that would have changed the amount largely—came to him without the most distant idea of ever making money. This occurred in his listening to the importunities of friends to loan them money, and securing it by mortgaging lands then cheap, and these lands thus finally falling into his hands, by the failure of his friends, to whom he had loaned the money, to pay. These lands remained in his hands many years, and he was not necessitated to sell them. As the country improved and railroads were constructed, these lands proved to be in important places, where in many years they grew up in into heavy amounts in value. In this there was no far seeing nor reaching for “filthy lucre,” nor any thought of obtaining it. He simply listened to the requests of his friends to help them, and in many long years it turned out to yield him a heavy amount.

Fifth. His talents put forth in Bethany, the works he issued from there and the establishment of the college, made employment for many persons, called a number of these as educators and students, established the church there, and resulted in building up quite a village. This enhanced the value of the fine tract of land owned by him there, and certainly without his foreseeing and working to that end, made a considerable item in the estate he left behind him. [307]

Sixth. The sale of his various works toward the latter part of his life brought a considerable income. This could not have been foreseen and planned to make money. In the early part of his life, and the time he put forth his most vigorous efforts, he had no assurance that such works as he issued would ever be a source of profit. Men who start out to make money do not start out against the main current of mankind. We have some now whose business is making money, but they do not start out nor travel the road trod by Alex. Campbell. They do not make a square issue with the religious world, nor war upon the men in power. They do not generally think that is the way to the gold mines. Had he been starting with money in his eye, his keen perception would have seen something of more promise than a square fight with the popular clergy of the world; the creeds, councils, conferences, assemblies, etc. It, however, turned out that his productions found a sale that resulted in an income. There was no close management or calculating on his part, nor careful looking after the matter.

But the pen of Alex. Campbell was a terror to men who did not love “the right way of the Lord,” and his words were burning; but the idea that he was morose and unamiable is entirely an erroneous one. His very nature was amiable and lovely; and, in his devotions, he was as humble as a child. We never heard any man who could pray like he could. His terms, in addressing our heavenly Father, were characterized with a sense of the absolute dependence, profound awe and reverence of us, the creatures of mercy, and the simplicity of a child. All was easy and utterly without affectation.

The reader may think we have occupied too much space with this matter. We think not. There are great lessons in these matters.

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FAITH changes, purifies or christianizes the heart, or converts the subject in heart. Repentance changes, purifies or christianizes the man in character, or converts him in character. But this is all simply a change in the man, but no change in his relation or state. It is simply preparing the man to enter into a justified state, or a state of pardon. There is no forgiveness of sin in all this. There is no salvation of the soul from sin here. The salvation of the soul from sin, pardon or forgiveness of sins, is as distinct from all the preparation of heart and life, or all the change in the subject, as heaven or earth, as the work of God and the work of man. Man believes, repents, feels and confesses, but God pardons. No believing, repenting, feeling or confessing, saves the soul or pardons. It is God that pardons. Nor does baptism save the soul. It, too, is but the act of the creature; but it is the initiatory rite, consummating or transition act, where pardon is promised in the divine process. The candidate is baptized “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” All the prophets bear witness of him, that through his name, whoever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sin. His is the only name given under heaven and among men whereby man [309] can be saved. When we come into his name, there is salvation, or forgiveness of sins. As many as have been “baptized into Christ, have been baptized into his death.” In his death, his blood flowed to wash away sin. When man comes into his death, he comes to his blood that cleanses from all sin. When he enters the body of Christ, he comes to the life, to all spiritual blessings in Christ, to the salvation of our God.

IT has been a question of serious doubt with some of the most excellent on earth, whether the protracted meeting is compatible with the genius of the Christian Institution, and whether more evil does not attend it than good. But from the day we engaged in the service of our Redeemer, to this hour, we have had no doubt of the propriety of protracted efforts for the conversion of men. It is true, these efforts may be made in such a manner; such policies and appliances may be employed and a resort may be made to such means of excitement, as would be wholly unjustifiable. But this may be done on any other occasion, as well as at the protracted meeting, and the fault is not in the protracted effort, but in the means employed.

[310] All efforts made to excite men without enlightening them; to rouse the feelings without informing the judgment; to produce action without the knowledge how to act, are wholly unscriptural, and equally at war with the best interests of mankind. To hold a protracted meeting, while talented orators shall picture to men, in the most startling manner, the sinfulness of sin, the lost condition of man, the awfulness of death, the ineffable bliss of heaven, and the unutterable horrors of hell, without giving any adequate instructions how to obtain deliverance from sin, or the dangers of punishment, and an ultimate admission into the felicities of the eternal state of the blessed, we all admit to be as irrational as unscriptural. Indeed, we can not conceive anything more incompatible with all enlightenment and all revelation, than to awaken the human soul to a sense of its danger, without affording a knowledge of the means of escape. That such, however, is the case in thousands of the revival movements of our times, no intelligent person can deny. Who has not seen the penitent, when the invitation has been extended, come, inquiring, “What must I do to be saved?” and not a man on the ground who could answer the question. Who has not heard the preacher invite, persuade and entreat the sinner to come to the Lord, assuring him that he who seeks shall find—he who comes shall in no wise be cast out—that if any man knocks at the door, the Lord will open to him, and, when persons, induced through such invitation, come seeking the way, not a man present could point it out? We have all witnessed occasions of this kind. Nay, more, we have known such seekers to come, time after time, seeking, honestly [311] and devoutly seeking, but still not finding! Yes, this is not the worst. We have heard the preacher advise them to join the church, that probably the Lord would bless them, that persons had been known to “get religion” after joining the church, etc., etc., and we have known them to take this advice, join the church, and remain for years, seeking all the time, and still failing to find! Every community can testify the same.

Now it is not strange that men should become sceptics, under the influence of such a system as this. It is a failure. It makes false promises, and men try them and find them to be false. Such a system promises, that they who seek shall find, and hundreds, even thousands, have sought—have done, and have done honestly, all the preachers pointed out for them to do, and have failed to find. They know positively that the system is a failure, for they have tried it, and found it to be such. It is precisely what we might expect, that persons trying such a system, seeking and striving honestly for years and not finding, should be brought to doubt that there is any truth or reality in the whole concern; and we have no doubt, that such unenlightened excitement will be chargeable with a large amount of the unbelief, so rapidly increasing in our times.

But if the preachers on all such occasions, were enlightened, so that when any sinner is awakened, becomes penitent, and desirous to know what he should do to be saved, and he could and would tell him forthwith what God required him to do, in the unequivocal language of the New Testament, who can fail to see that the results would be entirely different? This, we affirm, may and should be the case in [312] every instance, and we hesitate not to say, in the most unequivocal language, that such is the case under the preaching of enlightened men. We go even further, and declare with all possible emphasis, that God never authorized any man to preach who could not, on any occasion, point out to the believing, inquiring penitent, what he should do to be saved, or what he should do to enter into the kingdom of God. We have it recorded from the Lord’s own lips, and from the lips of his inspired apostles, what they directed inquirers or seekers to do, to obtain pardon and admission into Christ’s kingdom, and any preacher who can not or can, but has not the honor to do it, give their holy and infallible directions to the dying sinner, seeking his way to God, was never called, sent nor authorized by God to preach the gospel, and should not be regarded as such.

It is also of the highest importance that we employ gospel means for the awakening sinners and arousing them from their slumbers. Some preachers have contracted the habit of making an immense variety of appeals to affecting occurrences—describing sympathetic scenes, simply for the purpose of producing feeling in the audience. Great injury may be done in this way, by arousing human sympathy, moving the soul and causing men to act, who do not love the Lord and have not had the first serious thought of consecrating their lives to his holy service. We say not this, because we fear too much excitement, too much feeling, or too much interest, but because the excitement is not of the right kind. The work is of no value unless it be the Lord’s work.—It is not his work unless done by his acknowledged and approved instrumentalities. The [313] gospel is his power for salvation. The excitement produced in a community by preaching Christ—the work produced in the heart by preaching the gospel, is the Lord’s work. It is a divine cause, producing a divine effect. But if the cause be merely human, the effect can be no more than human.

We want the protracted meeting then, to deliver an unbroken series of gospel discourses to the people—that we may be enabled to call off their attention from the ordinary cares of life, and more especially from their sins, and place our glorious Lord and Redeemer before their minds—induce them to consider him, in all his gracious condescension, his life filled up with acts of kindness, goodness and humanity, his prayers, agonies and tears, his wonderful death, his descent to the grave, his victorious conquest over death and his triumphant and glorious ascension into heaven and coronation, as the King of kings and Lord of lords—that he is now exalted to the heavens—to the throne of the universe, to grant repentance and remission of sins, and that there is no other name given under heaven, nor among men whereby ye can be saved.

When a full exhibition of Christ—of the gospel, is made to men, in a series of discourses, and their hearts are moved, their souls filled with love and gratitude to him whom they discover to be their only Benefactor, their Lord, their Savior and only Redeemer, then we meet them with his own infallible directions, as they fell from his own lips and the lips of his holy apostles, and we never find it fail to give peace to the soul, and if carried out to give the utmost assurance in after life and death of acceptance with God and an eternal reward. Go [314] on, then, brethren, with the protracted meetings, and preach the word of the everlasting God to sinners as long as a man can be found who will bear it, and then be careful to take care of the young converts and keep them in the work of the Lord.

OCTOBER 7th, we started for Lebanon, where we had an appointment at night. The rains not having extended east, the road was fine and we glided along beautifully and reached Germantown about twelve o’clock. Not being acquainted with any person in the place, we drove up to the only public house we saw, and called for dinner and horse fed. On entering the bar room, the landlord skipped around the counter, and running his keen eye over the immense assortment of intoxicating liquors which lined one end of the room, politely inquired what we would drink. We answered, “a cup of cold water sir, if you please, when dinner is ready.” His countenance fell, but he recovered himself and invited us to take a seat. Presently in came a dirty, rough looking fellow, with his greasy pants patched from top to bottom, and placed himself at the counter, with his feet about as far apart upon the floor as his legs were long, and rolled up his red eyes as he looked out from his bloated face, while the landlord called out, “What will you have [315] sir?” He answered, “Hand down old Rough and Ready,” when a huge bottle of the fiery stuff was instantly set down. He poured a common sized glass tumbler two-thirds full, swallowed it, smacked his lips and took his seat. During this time he uttered some dozen or two of the most horrid oaths he could think of. One after another came in till some twenty had entered the room in a similar style, among whom there was not one, not excepting the landlord, who was not a profane swearer. Now the dinner bell rang, and in a perfect rush we gathered round the table well spread with the bounties of life. The stream of oaths continued from almost every mouth. Presently my right hand man commenced entertaining the company by giving an account of his travels among the Hoosiers, how ignorant they were, and that he had some notion of turning out preacher among them, as he was certain he could have made lots of money in that way! Poor silly creature thought we; you must get sense enough to eat your dinner in a civil manner, when you are in the company of a stranger, before you can even be an impostor.

Should we call at such a house to stay over night, we should surely leave, after finding what kind of company we had fallen into. To be annoyed by the awful stench of tobacco smoke, spit and snuff, with the wretched scent of a company of men who are never sober, is what we will not endure if there is any other chance.

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HOW remarkable the difference between the apostles’ method of producing faith, and that pursued by some modern preachers. The latter class frequently theorize on faith, and the method through which it comes, but the former, understanding his mission more perfectly, first, set forth the things to be believed, and secondly, the witnesses by which God intended to prove them to the world. An august phalanx they are too! consisting of all the prophets and apostles. “They all bear witness of him.” Suppose we could see them standing in a long rank, and among the most distinguished we could see Enoch, Elijah and the venerable Abraham. We could place our eyes upon the great commander of the hosts of the Israel of God, and the mighty law-giver, who feared and trembled, in the midst of thunderings and smoke at Mount Sinai, viz. Moses.—We look again and behold Samuel, Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel. Passing the lesser prophets, we behold the commanding face and hear the voice of John the Baptist. Still gazing we behold Peter, James and Paul and last of all the eye rests upon the venerable John. We then pause, and reflect upon the tears, the poverty, nakedness, hunger, thirst, stripes, imprisonments and deaths through which these men passed and inquire what was all this suffering for? The fact re-echoes [317] back upon us in the awful and sublime sentence: “For the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Did they thus suffer on this account? They did. Could they have been anything else but faithful men? Surely not. They must have been the most sincere and solemn men the world ever produced: Well could they have been mistaken. Impossible. The things concerning which they bore witness they SAW and HEARD. “We were with him in Jerusalem, in the land of the Jews, and saw him after he rose from the dead.” We say then emphatically that they could not have been insincere nor mistaken, and what they said must have been infallibly true.

AWAKENED sinners feel that they must do something, but they see, or think they see, some “lion in the street”—some difficulty in the path which they have marked out to Christ, which prevents them from finding the Savior in the pardon of their sins. The chief reason, perhaps, why every inquirer does not rejoice in a felt sense of God’s pardoning love, is, that they seek in their own way. They endeavor to arise and “go to Jesus,” in their own strength. No sinner ever did find Christ, seeking thus. He must first arrive at the point where he can feel his own helplessness, before Christ will help him. When he does realize this helplessness, then God will meet him and give him the new heart. [318]

Would you know, then, what you must do to be saved? The essence of the whole matter, we think, is this:

1. You must resolve that you will put off the interest of your soul no longer, but that you will go earnestly about the matter, and seek and persist in seeking, until your sins are pardoned. 2. You must see your own helplessness and feel it. 3. Having arrived at this point, humbly submit to Christ. With the prodigal, let the feelings of the heart be, “I will arise and go to my Father”—He can help me—I can not help myself—if he save, well—if not, “I can but perish if I go.”

And, did ever a sinner perish with such feelings? No, thanks to Christ, not one! Try it, dear sinner, try it.

We clip the above from the Presbyterian Advocate, as a specimen of “the blind leading the blind.” Why is it that when men attempt to answer Scripture questions, they can not give Scripture answers? When the Philippian Jailer propounded substantially the above question, the holy apostle answered him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” Acts xvi. 30–32. When this pagan officer asked what he should do, he was not blindly told that he could do nothing—that the first lesson to learn in salvation was that he could not do anything, but he was told what to do, and forthwith did it and was saved. [319]

When Saul asked the important question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” he was by no means told that he could not do anything. But he was told to “Arise, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee, all things that are appointed for thee to do.” Acts xxii. 9–10; see verse 16. Would God appoint things for men to do, and say, “Why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord,” if he knew they could not do anything?

When three thousand cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” there was no blind guide to say, “You can do nothing,” but there were present apostles, under the influence of the infallible Spirit of all wisdom, who said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.” Acts ii. 38.

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THE evangelist is not an officer in a church, or for a church, but his work is at large, to build up the churches, strengthen them and turn sinners to the Lord. He should introduce the gospel into new places, establish churches, and in due time set them in order. He is not an ecclesiastic, an official dignitary, who has much to say about his office and authority, but a gospel man, a man of influence, and can command respect and do a good work.

A shepherd, or, which is the same, pastor, is not an officer at all, but a figurative term applied to him who takes care of the flock. The flock means the church, and the shepherd is the correlative of flock, and is applied to an overseer, or one who oversees or looks over the flock as a shepherd. “Pastoral work” is, then, the work of a shepherd, or overseer, who can not be a novice or a young convert.

The work of the evangelist is now needed as much as ever, and the evangelist is by no means done away. So the shepherds to take care of the flock are now needed as much as ever, and the teachers are in demand as much as ever. These are not now raised up and qualified by miracle, but by ordinary means; nor is the work gone that they are severally to do. The evangelizing is now needed as much as ever; so is [321] taking care of the churches and teaching the disciples all things that Jesus commanded. True, as our brother has said, there is no office in the church except overseer and deacon. The office of an evangelist is not a church office.

We have a glorious army of young men now called into the field, capable of one of the noblest works ever done by men. They have it in their hearts to do that work; but if they are perverted they will be ruined and will never accomplish the work to which they have given themselves. They must not, on the one hand, be discouraged and disheartened, but encouraged and their way opened; and, on the other hand, they must not be arrogant, conceited and vain, but humble, gentle, and kind; examples of piety, purity and moral excellence. They must not think to leap into authority by virtue of being preachers, but, by faithful labor and noble deeds, win their way and gain an influence among the people of God. If, now and then, one of them is puffed up, filled with conceit and arrogance, the same is true of other classes of men, and it is no argument against them as a class, but against the individual.

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NOTHING short of the highest morality and the most perfect subordination can ever secure complete success. Most indispensable is high reputation in all its public functionaries. A religious body whose public organs do not sustain purity of morals, chastity of address, and dignity of character, with most elevated natural and acquired attainments, can never do much towards the purification and elevation of the debased and degraded children of men. So important is this that some rule seems to be necessary to enable us to distinguish those who labor to show themselves off to a good advantage, from those who seek the honor of the blessed Master. It is one thing to preach in such a way as to make the people think of and confess their sins, but it is quite another thing for the mere actor to show himself off, in such a way as to induce the hearers to say, he is the greatest man we ever heard! A fine speaker may present such a beautiful theory on faith, as to delight a popular audience, without producing faith in a single soul, while the most immethodical speaker, whose heart is greatly impressed with the facts to be believed, will throw out the great realities of revelation with such earnestness and zeal as to make believers wherever he goes. Just so fine theories on repentance may be [323] delivered in the shape of sermons, and listened to with applause, without inducing any one to think of repenting, while some old-fashioned preacher reasoning upon righteousness and a judgment to come, in the most immethodical manner, will cause sinners to tremble all around. The reason of this is not that one class has method while the other has not, but one class presents the mighty truth of God, while the other simply presents a fine theory concerning the truth. The result is that in one case the truth itself is believed and admired, while in the other case the fine theory is the only thing seen, and the preacher who delivered it the only object adored.

WE wish to allude to some errors into which some elders have fallen, for their advantage. We have an opportunity of being better acquainted with some difficulties in churches than the elders themselves can. When we visit some congregations, the elders complain that they will not turn out to meeting. The brethren say the reason more will not turn out is, that the elders are in the habit of preaching long and uninteresting sermons, which they have heard over and over again, until they know every comma and semi-colon. And now the congregation has dwindled down to insignificance, and the few who are faithful enough to [324] attend are annoyed with a lengthy harangue on the subject of the non-attendance of the members. There is certainly a great impropriety in this course. But few men are able to interest an audience with a lengthy discourse on every first day of the week. Those men who have been most successful in holding large audiences, where they preach very frequently in the same place, are usually very brief in their addresses, and very fearful of wearying the patience of their hearers. Some men of very fine talent have lost their audiences, on no account but their tediousness; and if it thus fares with men of talent, what may we expect from men of slender abilities? It is very wearisome to those, who can hardly be induced to attend the place of meeting at any time, to hear a brother of limited information, and a poor speaker, for the space of an hour or an hour and a half. Time seems doubly long to them.

The uneasiness seen in this class, causes all the rest to be uneasy, and every one wishes the sermon to close. Some begin to leave, others begin to button up their coats, get their hats and whips ready, look at their watches, and appear almost on the rise, while some through respect try to appear contented. Let the fault lie where it may in such cases, it is as certain as any thing can be, that the preaching is doing no good. If the same brethren would make their addresses very short, and be as interesting as possible, they would not have to complain half so often about the delinquency of their brethren in attending meeting, and secure the reputation of much better preachers. [325]

There is another kind of tediousness, almost as insufferable as long sermons. The selecting and singing of long hymns, in a cold and formal manner, after a tedious sermon, can have no good effect. Lengthy ceremonies in administering the communion, are always in opposition to its good influence, and very wearisome to the restless. But last, though by no means least, it is not to be endured for elders to detain the audience, while they may consult together five or ten minutes, about appointments and other matters of this kind, and then be very tedious in announcing them. All matters of this kind ought to be despatched with readiness.

WE doubt not that precisely what was lost in Adam will be restored in Christ, or, that whatever the injury that resulted from the agency of Adam was, it will be removed by Christ. Whatever was included in the word “die” will be counteracted by what was included in the words “made alive.” The penalty inflicted on account of the Adamic sin will all be removed from the whole race, in Christ, the second Adam, or the Lord from heaven. No man will be lost in the world to come on account of the Adamic sin. There is not an intimation in the Bible of any man being punished in the world to come on account of original sin. The [326] punishment in the world to come is threatened in view of our own, or what schoolmen call “actual sin.” The penalty sentenced on account of Adam’s sin has fallen, as a consequence, on the whole race. By Christ, in the resurrection, this consequence will be removed, and pardon, through the blood of Christ, will release all who come to the Savior, from their own sins, or their actual sins, and thus save them from punishment in the world to come.

IF a man, or a certain body of men, wish to control the labors of a farmer or mechanic, and apply them as they may see proper, it is but the voice of reason and Scripture that they give him a reasonable compensation to support him while performing his labor. In precisely the same way, if any man, church or co-operation, wish to control and appropriate the labors of the preacher of the Word, they should give him a reasonable compensation. But when the question is under advisement, of employing a man at a certain point, and for a certain amount, the question is not whether he will preach, but whether he will preach at that point and for that amount. He is bound in his covenant with the Lord to preach, but the Lord has left him to select his own field of labor. He selects his field, performs his labor, and [327] looks to the Lord for his support. But all this does not say, that his brethren should not promise him a certain amount, and with the utmost punctuality fulfill their promise.

“I do not think it is right to promise a certain amount,” says one, “we can not tell what we shall be able to give.” Did you hire that man to work on your farm without promising him a “certain amount?” Did you buy that farm that you are in debt for without promising a certain amount? We judge not, and not a small amount at that. Why, then, should men, constantly in the habit of promising certain amounts for everything else, be so cautious about promising the poor preacher of the word of God—the man to whom society is more indebted than any other man, for all that is pure and good, a certain amount to subsist upon while he sojourns in this life?

“I thought you said the preacher should trust to the Lord for his support,” says one? Certainly he should, just as you trust to the Lord for his preaching. You trust to the Lord to enable him to perform his preaching according to arrangements, and he trusts in the Lord that you will be enabled to support him as promised, the same as your hired man trusts in the Lord for what you promised him, or as you trust in the Lord for the products of your farm. Yet the preacher knows not the ability the Lord may give him, nor what amount of money he may need. It may be more or less, but it is not his reward for his labor, but merely his support—or, if you prefer it, his board while he labors for the Lord. But he does not intend to spend the whole reward of his labor in this life, but is laying up a good foundation against the time to come. [328] They are prodigals who run through all their earnings as fast as earned. The Lord does not intend his servants to do this. He gives them a subsistence as they pass along, or money for their expenses, but the main bulk of their wages is laid up in heaven, and can not be estimated by dollars and cents. May God put it into the hearts of the children of God to look to the temporal wants of the young men who have entered this great work.

TO see the mere worldling, whether the politician, the lawyer, physician, or whatsoever, an egotist—full of self-laudation—giving himself the glory for everything good, and acquitting himself from everything evil, is contemptible enough in all conscience. Nothing can sink a man faster in the estimation of sensible men. But in the kingdom of Christ, where all is purely of the grace of God—where none has anything that he did not receive, and where all are held responsible in proportion to the ability that God gives, and where each one has to get down upon his knees, before his holy and perfect Master, and confess his weakness, imperfection, shortcomings, and nothingness in the sight of God, how transcendently ridiculous to see egotism, self-laudation [329] and an effort to glorify the creature in the place of the Creator! And how perfectly incompatible, too, such a spirit with the meek and lowly spirit of Christ and the apostles!

PAUL says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ.” Again, he says, “I determined to make known nothing among you, but Christ and him crucified.” I come not to you with excellency of speech, and the wisdom of men’s words, but with the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power. He further asserts that the gospel which he preached, he did not receive from man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Many such expressions are found in the writings of the holy apostles going to show the precaution constantly used by them, lest the glory of Christ should be attributed to them. The very first sentence that escaped the lips of Peter in Solomon’s portico, was to the same effect. “Why look ye so steadfastly upon us, as if by our own power or holiness, this man had been made whole?” He proceeds: “The name of Jesus Christ, through faith in his name, hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all?” [330]

The good Cornelius tried Peter, at the same point, on his first approach into his presence. He fell down before the apostle and was about to worship him. Peter told him to stand up—that he himself was also a man, and demanded of him why he had sent for him. After hearing the account given by Cornelius, of his prayer, his having seen an angel, and what the angel said to him, the apostle began upon the great burthen that he carried upon his soul. In a few words he declared that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. This was the great subject the apostles carried upon their hearts. Respecting themselves, they knew not what would befall them, save the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that bonds and imprisonment awaited them; nor did they count their lives dear unto themselves, but they counted all things but loss, if they could but win Christ.

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ONE of the most striking differences between the Mosaic and Christian institutions is, that the latter is a proselyting institution, while the former was not. Errorists among the Jews, contrary to the spirit of their institution, ran into great proselyting efforts; while errorists in the kingdom of Christ, contrary to the spirit of their institution, leave the spirit of proselyting. Those Jews who had such a desire for proselyting, should have been Christians, and the Christians who have no zeal for proselyting should have been Jews. It would have suited their capacity, views and feelings better, to have been born into a church as they were born into the world; and a sign in the flesh, such as circumcision, as a mark of distinction between them and the rest of mankind, put upon them when eight days old; and when the numbers of the church were replenished by natural generation and birth, and not in an institution where men can not enter except by being born again—where they are begotten, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever—where men can not enter by natural generation, but must enter by regeneration or not enter at all. [332]

If men who have no zeal to proselyte, had been born in an institution where every child born of church members is also a church member, they would have suited well to them the lessons from the law of Moses on the Sabbath day, and perform the dull and spiritless ceremonies of the synagogue. No doubt they could have gone through the performances with as much formality and as little grace as a Jewish rabbi. Many of these, if they had the priestly robe, Aaron’s rod, the pot with manna, the shew bread, etc., would figure much more decorously back among the types and shadows, than they do here among the good things to come. They are better adapted for the letter than for the spirit, for they almost convert the house of God—the spiritual building, where the spirit of God dwells, and where we are required to worship in spirit and in truth—into the dry and irksome ceremonies of the Jewish synagogue.

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WHAT is there in teaching that Christians must keep the seventh, or Sabbath day, to impart or perpetuate spiritual life? The very seed of ruin is in such teaching. There is no Christ in it. It did not originate with Christ, but is anti-christian. The Lord never taught his disciples to keep the seventh or Sabbath day, nor did his apostles ever teach this. The first Christians did not meet on the seventh day “to break bread,” but on the first day. When they met on the first day they did not observe it as the Sabbath. It was a different day from the Sabbath, took its rise from a different event, and had a different object and entirely different associations. The Sabbath originated in God’s resting on the seventh day. It pointed to this rest and originated in it. It had no Christ in it, did not originate with Christ, nor point to him. It had nothing in it to bring him, or anything he ever did to view, and nothing can be done more directly calculated to draw the mind entirely off from Christ than to fill the mind of the christian with the Sabbath, and get the first day of the week and all its hallowed associations and memories out of his mind. The first day of the week derives its entire religious significance from the resurrection of our Lord, and the commemoration of the Savior’s sufferings keeps his death continually before us, pointing back to his death for our sins, and forward to his second coming. [334]

Are Christians to be perverted and their minds and hearts carried away from the death of Jesus, his resurrection and his coming, and all the sublime associations and memories connected with the first day of the week; turned back and put to the meditations of a Jew, commemorating the rest of God on the seventh day, after he had completed the work of creation? Nothing can be more anti-christian than this. This is Judaism in the most deadly type. It is literally turning away from Christ to Judaism; from the day that brings the great event to view, that lies at the foundation of the faith and the entire kingdom of God; the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, and the death of Jesus for our sins. If purposely designed to lead us away from the Savior and ruin us, nothing could be more completely suited to the purpose than this Judaizing, Sadducean, no-spirit, no-angel and no-resurrection theory. The theory, on its face, carries its own condemnation; but, in the numerous cases of ruin wrought by it, we have the demonstration of its destructive character.

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WE have no confidence in men and theories that have no power except to scatter, tear down and destroy. The time has come when the brethren should put their mark upon all this description of men we care not what their idol may be, who are simply prating, whining, complaining, and murmuring among loving disciples gathered by the labors and sacrifices of other men, but who never built up a church, healed a difficulty, or promoted peace any place in their lives. Nothing is so ridiculous as for such men to go grumbling round the country, finding fault with everything, pulling down other men’s labor, and building up nothing, all the while prating about progression and reformation. Tremendous progress, that miserable prating, whining, and grumbling that never builds up anything but always pulls down, catches the sheep and scatters them! Mighty reformers they, who never reformed anybody since God made them, who never built up a church or gave any prosperity to the cause, any place, or did anything more than scatter and devastate! Atheism has done this much, and will do it again. If men have found any new light worth anything, and are themselves men of any force, improvement will appear; fruits will follow their labors. But nothing can be more manifest than that God did not send those men who [336] only spread desolation, who only pull down, scatter, and kill, we care not what fine theories they propagate, nor how prettily they may talk. We want men who will preach the Lord Jesus Christ, who will regard him, adore him, and obey him, and not a set of self-willed men, who idolize their own notions, and are determined to have them and propagate them, if the Lord’s name is forgotten, and the fold scattered asunder. Mercy and peace upon the Israel of God. Mark them who cause divisions and contentions.

ARE we, as disciples of Christ, citizens of a kingdom not of this world, a religious community, to be distracted, disconcerted, and thrown into confusion? or, are we drawn to a common center, by an attraction so heavenly, commanding, and binding, that no side-influence can divert us from our course? The Lord is about to test us, prove us, and show whether we are true, sincere, and men of integrity to the great principles which we profess, and have been inculcating, or will turn traitor to them, despise them, and trample them under our feet. We have been preaching union upon the Bible, and the Bible alone, to our neighbors; but, the time has come to test us practically, and compel us to apply our philosophy in an instance of the greatest moment, and best calculated, of all others, to show its power—its moral and spiritual efficacy among ourselves. [337]

What course shall we take, then, during the coming campaign? Shall preachers of the gospel of Christ enter the pulpit, with exciting political news in their heads and hearts, and make Kansas-Nebraska, and anti-Kansas-Nebraska, Slavery and anti-Slavery speeches? Shall their themes be the Constitution, Liberty, Popular Sovereignty, North, South, Fillmore, Buchanan, Fremont, American, Democratic and Republican. Shall these be the themes that consecrate the house of God during the coming months, while thousands are perishing for the word of God, and dying in their sins? We say, and would if we had a voice louder than the seven thunders of the Apocalypse, and more immutable than the oath of the angel of God, standing with one foot upon the land, and the other upon the sea, say, no, by NO MEANS, for the following reasons:

First. Jesus and his apostles, in all their official acts, never attempted to correct the political institutions of the country, no matter how corrupt they were, but left them, and those who made them, to take care of their own responsibilities. We must follow their precedent, or we are not the disciples of Christ.

Second. Our Lord and his apostles, in all their official procedure, never made a decision, or gave even an opinion, upon the merits or demerits of any form of civil government, republican, monarchical, either limited or absolute. They left all these matters to take their course, and lifted their thoughts above them to a spiritual kingdom, that shall endure when time shall be no more. We must do as they did, or forfeit our claim to be one with them. [338]

Third. The Lord and his apostles never made a decision, or gave an opinion, on any system of slavery, though slavery existed, in some form or other, in every country where they preached and wrote, in all their official career. We must humble ourselves to the same limits.

Fourth. We have the infallible directions of the Spirit of God, to believers, connected with slavery, both masters and servants, and these directions we must give, when we speak on the subject at all, or depart from the faith, because we are opposed to it. Every man who does not do this, manifestly repudiates the practice and teachings of the holy apostles.

Fifth. Jesus and his apostles did not found slavery of any kind, and neither our Lord nor his religion can be responsible for any system of slavery or its results, no matter how good or how bad. Slavery is an institution of the world, as all other political institutions are, and neither the kingdom of God nor its subjects are responsible for its results.

Sixth. Our Lord and his apostles never formed an issue between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. How utterly preposterous and absurd it is, to the mind of one who has noticed, that our Lord never made an issue between his kingdom, or his religion, and any civil government or kingdom of the world, to see some misguided creature trying to form a direct issue between the kingdom of God and whatever political institution he may chance to fall out with and trying to set the citizens in the kingdom of Christ in battle array with the citizens of the civil government! Such a man has no use for a church only as a [339] kind of battering-ram to beat down some sinful institution that he has just perceived is to ruin the nation. He would have the kingdom of God a convenient engine, properly adjusted and poised, himself commander-in-chief, so that he can now bring it to bear upon Masons, then upon Odd Fellows, anon upon Sons of Temperance, then upon Slavery, or any other monster that may rise. But the man who stands upon an eminence lofty enough to discern the kingdom of God, beholds an institution with an aim transcendently higher than deciding upon the rights and wrongs of the political governments of the world, amending, correcting, and perfecting them; the superlatively noble, grand, and beneficent object of translating individuals, whether high or low, rich or poor, bond or free, whether their political institutions are good or bad, out of darkness into light, and out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God, and in their few remaining days here, no matter what their earthly condition, prepare them for guests of the redeemed hosts who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, in the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Seventh. Christianity is the thing to be promoted, and not to be used as a mere instrumentality, by men who care nothing about it, and who are doing but little to advance it, to promote some object of their own worldly ambition. We must promote Christianity itself, and not employ it as a mere means to promote something else.

“Well, sir, what would you have a christian do in regard to rulers and civil governments?” says one. When acting as a citizen in the kingdom of God, or in the house of God, “Pray for kings and all that are in [340] authority, that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life, in all godliness and honesty.” “Be subject to the powers that be,” remembering that “we have no continuing city here,” and that “this world is not our home.” When acting as a citizen of the civil government, be candid, quiet, peaceable, and kind, and do just what you think right, allowing every man the same privilege, as Christ has left us all free here, and leave the event with God.

There are spiritual-minded persons in almost all the parties around us; and if we determine to know nothing but Christ, nothing but pure Christianity, and confine ourselves strictly to the clear revelations of heaven—preach the pure gospel of the grace of God—preach Christ, and determine to know nothing else, while a mere carnal and worldly priesthood harangue their assemblies on politics, mix up church and State, law and gospel, turning their religious organizations into mere political engines, the very thing we have condemned the Romish priesthood for, thus wounding the feelings of all the more spiritual-minded members and splitting their parties asunder, thousands of them will seek a church where the name of Jesus has charms, where the Lord is loved and worshipped, and where the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Let us keep the way clear for such, receive them to the fold of Christ, and show them how they can serve God and get to heaven, whether they can ever understand the slavery question or not.

Many of us have labored long and hard and sacrificed the main energies of our lives in gathering the many thousands to the fold of Christ that now throng places of public worship, and we can not remain silent and [341] see them scattered by the indiscreet and imprudent course of brethren, in thrusting upon them, and seeming to think that their souls’ salvation is suspended upon their rightly understanding the question of American slavery. We admonish the brethren to have nothing to do with any such question in the church. The Lord has not required the church, the preachers, or religious editors to make any decision, or to hold any particular class of opinions on the subject, nor can any man be blameless and push any such question into the kingdom of God. We will stand square upon the Bible, by the Lord, the apostles, and every man who will stand by them. The Lord direct us!

THE Church of England has abounded toward her people in all wisdom and prudence. In doing so she has supplied them with the “Prayer-Book,” not only for weak members, who can not pray, but for her strong members, specially the clergy, giving the very words they must pray on all occasions. In this exuberance of her benevolence she has supplied a deficiency in the will of God, an omission in the law of God, an item that Paul overlooked when he “shunned not to declare the whole counsel [342] of God;” an item not in the “all things that pertain to life and godliness,” mentioned by Peter, nor in “all Scripture given by inspiration,” mentioned by Paul, to “perfect the man of God and thoroughly furnish him for all good works.” There are many among them that can read prayers, as they have them in print in the “Prayer-Book,” and do read them, but we are not aware that they have any more that can pray than those who have no such “Prayer-Book.”

If we can not learn from the Lord and the apostles how to pray; from the Scriptures, so that we can pray we would not learn from all the prayer-books ever printed. Read the prayers of the Lord and holy men, recorded in Scripture, and the instructions of the Lord and the inspired writings; take the “Concordance” and run through the Bible, read and study all you find about it, and practice it daily, and you find not only that you can learn how, but to love to pray, and to be impressed continually with the importance of it. Let the desire be in the heart in the words, “Lord, teach us how to pray,” and you will soon learn to ask for any thing you need.

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THE effort we have made, and are now making, at reformation, can never prove a failure upon any ground, unless it be that we have not moral courage enough, as the disciples of Christ—have not sufficient integrity to the great principles of the gospel, to which we have pledged ourselves, to maintain them against the mighty torrent of opposition from the various ranks of bigotry, prejudice, and partyism, together with the combined influence of unbelief and sin. The position we occupy can never fail. While the holy prophets live and speak in their writing; while the preaching of the apostles, their lives, miracles and martyrdoms, live in the memory of men; while Jesus lives, and the throne of the Almighty, upon which he sits, stands unmoved, the position we occupy can not fail. The gospel will live and he who believes it shall never die. The men who believe the gospel, who love it, and hold on to it—keep the faith, press it to their hearts, love and reverence him who gave it, will live co-existent with the years of God. They will never fail; their lives, in this mortal state, will fail; but they, at the same moment, will triumph. They are not in any doubt and uncertainty, in calling upon their fellow man to return to the faith as it was at the beginning. They have no fears that they are [344] wrong, or that they can possibly be mistaken in making the best effort in their power to determine precisely what the ancient faith was, separating it from everything else, and maintaining it before the world. They know they are right in this. In one word, they believe the gospel, maintain and defend it, and nothing else. It is the system they believe, maintain and defend and nothing else. They may not understand everything contained in it, as others who have other systems, do not understand everything in their system; but the system itself we know to be right, infallibly right and that we are infallibly right in maintaining it; not because we understand everything contained in it; but because we know the author of it, and know him to be divine—infallible. We know him, love him and regard him; therefore we know that what proceeds from him is infallible, and love it and regard it.

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WHY does the speculator offer one dollar more to-day, than he did yesterday, per barrel for flour? Because he believes the news he has received, of an advance in some other market. Why does that pork dealer advance the price one dollar per barrel? Because he believes the news of an advance in some other market. Why does that trader refuse that bank bill? Because he believes the statement in the detector, that it is under par. Look through the various departments in life, business transactions and all, and see what a vast amount of it is done by faith. All business men are daily and hourly acting in matters where thousands of dollars are involved upon faith, and acting with great confidence, too. Look at that man at the post office, opening a letter and reading! In a few minutes you see him stopping quickly and closing an engagement, involving thousands of dollars! What is he acting upon? Faith in the letter just received and read. Look at that other man, waiting for a dispatch. Presently he receives and reads it. In a few minutes he is waiting the arrival of the cars. As the cars approach, you notice him eyeing the passengers as they come out of the train. Presently he rests his eye upon a man. In the next moment the man is arrested! What is he acting upon? Faith in the telegraphic dispatch he had just received. Thus we perceive men are constantly acting upon faith in all the affairs of this life. [346]

Is it possible that men who are thus constantly, and without hesitation, acting upon faith, will have the assurance to apologize for their unbelief in matters of religion, by saying they cannot believe? It will also be observed that the men thus acting are not merely a few credulous and thoughtless persons, but business men of all classes—men of the first order of mind, thus showing that they can believe and do believe, in matters of great importance, and thus demonstrating that they can believe in matters of religion, as well as others, if they will but give a candid attention to the evidence. The same faculties of the mind exercised in believing the news of the day, political, commercial, or of sickness, health, or accidents, etc., are exercised in believing the divine testimonies. The same mind that believes the testimony of men, is exercised in believing the testimony of God. The difference in the effect produced upon the human soul, by divine testimony, or divine faith, from that produced by human testimony, or what is purely human faith, is not that the same mind, or the same faculties of the mind are not exercised in both cases, nor is it owing to the difference between divine and human testimony; but the difference is in the things believed—the difference between divine and human things believed. Heavenly things believed would, beyond all dispute, make a different impression from that produced by the belief of earthly things, however true they might be. A mere earthly truth, even if proved by divine testimony, could produce no more than an [347] earthly impression; but a heavenly truth, if proved by earthly testimony, would produce a heavenly impression. The same mind that understands and believes that there is an advance in the flour market, believes that the Lord rose from the dead, but the effect produced by the faith in one instance, is very different from that produced in the other instance; not because different powers are exercised in believing; nor because the testimony differs; but because the things believed differ.

The relation a thing believed sustains to the believer, is the main cause of its effect upon him. Robert Owen, who professed to have read, and traveled forty years, without being able to find any evidence of the truth of christianity, has lately become a believer in Spiritualism. How is it, that he is so slow to believe in one case, but so ready to believe in the other? The reason is to be found in the relation these two things to be believed, sustain to him. The belief in modern Spiritualism involves nothing, requires nothing and promises nothing. It is merely a speculative subject, for vain and idle curiosity; placing no man under any new obligations who believes it. It is a very suitable thing to catch a man of a perverted mind and heart; one who has rejected Jesus; resisted the testimonies of the Holy Spirit, and despised the Bible during an earthly pilgrimage of many years, which God has mercifully and graciously granted him. But the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God—that he is divine—that he is alive and lives forever and ever, is a fact sustaining a different relation to time. It is not a speculative fact for idle curiosity; not a mere theme for empty, cold and unfeeling hearts; for [348] idle, confused and wandering brains; but a fact, intimately connected with all mankind; a fact, in which the destinies of all men are involved; one, too, bearing upon the lives and conduct of all men. Here is the reason that many are so slow to believe this, the greatest and most important of all the facts presented for the belief of mankind: it requires a holy life. A strange feature truly is it, in men, that they should prefer to believe that which requires nothing, proposes nothing and promises nothing, to that requiring the purest life, most exalted character, and ennobled feelings, promising the approbation of the Almighty now, and eternal joy in the world to come!

What reason can any man give for such opposition? No man believes that the Lord Jesus Christ ever made any human being worse. No man sincerely believes that the Bible makes any person worse; or that the Christian religion does any harm to any one of our sinful race. No human being solemnly believes that any harm could result from the universal prevalence of pure christianity, as set forth upon the pages of the New Testament, throughout the world. All men, upon cool and deliberate reflection, must be satisfied, that if all the peoples, nations, tribes and tongues of the earth, were fully under the power and influence of the Bible, mankind would be infinitely blessed by it. Not a sceptic in the world can give a reason for his opposition to the Lord Jesus and the Bible. O, that men knew Jesus! O, that they possessed his spirit and temper! O, that they would love him and be blessed by him!

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THE act of uniting with a church is not with the idea of being changed or made better, in ourselves, but to be placed in the right relation. The man who is a christian ought to be united with other christians in a congregation where he can worship according to the Scriptures. It is one thing to become a christian, and another thing to find and unite with a congregation of christians where the ordinances are kept and the authority of Christ is maintained.

It is one thing to become a member of the body of Christ, or, which is the same, enter into the kingdom of God, and another thing for a person to unite with a local congregation. The Ethiopian officer became a christian, or entered into the kingdom of God, or the body of Christ, in obeying the gospel; but this did not make him a member of any particular local congregation, where he would meet with other christians and worship. This required an additional step. By faith, repentance and baptism he entered into Christ, or in the body of Christ, or became a christian. But if he has thus come into the general body, or thus become a christian, and then united with the Baptist church, or any other church, where he can not worship according to the Scriptures; where they do not commemorate the sufferings and death of Jesus regularly on the first day of the week, as the first christians [350] did; where they have an unauthorized name, a human creed and other things contrary to Scripture; he has a right, and more, he ought to seek a gospel church where he can worship according to Scripture.

BAPTISM, the initiatory rite, or the act of entering the church, is a command. All commands must be preceded by faith. The divine authority, requiring baptism, must be recognized, before the command can be obeyed; and the divine authority can only be recognized by faith. How, then, can a command be obeyed by one without faith, without a consciousness of divine authority, or even the knowledge that the command exists? Such a practice subverts the command of God in every case where it obtains, and if it should become universal, would set aside and annihilate all obedience to the command to be baptized. In every case, where an infant is baptized, and prevailed upon, in after life, to be content with its baptism and infant membership, one person is effectually prevailed upon never to obey the command to be baptized, and never, personally, to bow to the authority of Jesus in voluntarily entering into covenant with him. The person is deceived, and made to [351] think, when come to the years of accountability, that two things have been done that never have been done, viz: 1. That the command to be baptized has been obeyed. 2. That the requirement to enter into the church has been complied with. Neither the one nor the other has been complied with at all.

SOME person,—name not known—writing from Ripley, Ohio, inquires whether persons baptized when very young, under excitement, having but little understanding of the import of baptism; and, after coming to mature years, become dissatisfied and desire to be baptized over again, should he then be baptized again? This question is entirely outside of the New Testament, and purely a question of opinion. Among the many thousands baptized by the apostles, there were many, evidently, who had but an imperfect understanding of the whole matter, not only of very young persons, but many very illiterate persons. Yet there is no account of any, on coming to a fuller understanding, who desired to be baptized in the name of the Lord. It matters not how little understanding persons have, if they believe in the Lord, repent of their sins, confess and obey the Savior. Nor is the circumstance that a person afterward understands the matter more fully, a reason why such [352] an one should be baptized again; but simply an evidence of a proper growth in knowledge. There has been much said about the measure of understanding that must be had before baptism, that would cut off one half of the apostolic converts. Conversion is simply turning to God, and there are but few who aim not to do this.

THE difficulty in this case is not to be solved in dreams about different kinds of faith. Writers may speculate upon different kinds of faith till doomsday, and neither extricate themselves from the difficulty, nor their readers. James and Paul were speaking of precisely the same kind of faith; but Paul’s “deeds of the law” are not the same as James’ “works;” or no man can avoid a contradiction. Paul and James are both speaking of the faith that justifies man, but neither of them are speaking of faith alone. Paul and James were speaking of the faith of Christ, by which the heart is purified, “without the deeds of the law” of Moses, and both would have agreed any time, that by the deeds of the law of Moses, no man could be justified in the sight of God. But the deeds of the law of Moses and the deeds of the gospel—the “good works which God has ordained that we should walk [353] in them”—as mentioned by Paul—Eph. ii. 10—and the works of James, are not the same by any means. Paul was arguing against opposing Jews, who contended that men could be justified by the works or deeds of the law of Moses, and maintained in opposition to them, that, by the deeds of their law, no man could be justified in the sight of God; but man is now; justified by the faith of Christ, that works by love and purifies the heart—through the deeds of the gospel—the good works of the gospel—not the deeds of law, but the works of faith, like the works of Abraham, of which James speaks.

Neither Paul nor James believed that justification was by faith alone. Neither of them believed, or taught, that justification was by the deeds of the law of Moses. Neither of them believed that a man could be justified by faith, without the works of the gospel. Justification is by faith, not in the law of Moses, but in Christ; not alone, but, as Paul has it, in the “good works (of the gospel) which God hath ordained that we should walk in them;” or, as James has it, in the case of Abraham, his faith, wrought with his works, and through the divine appointment of both his faith and his works, the Lord justifies those who come to him. It is neither faith nor works, either of law or gospel, that justifies the sinner. It is God that justifies; but he only justifies those who come in a proper spirit, to his appointments.

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LET no man infer from this, however, that we favor, or in any way encourage, a love for controversy. This is another thing entirely. By no means do we love controversy. It is deplored always, or at least the occasion of it. But shall a man, because he deplores controversy—because he is sorry to come in collision with men—because he knows unpleasantness will arise, and the smooth surface will be ruffled, evade the issues between light and darkness—between christianity and everything else? We did not make these issues and are not responsible for them. They exist whether we say anything about them or not, or whether we see them at all. The simple question is, whether we will stand by christianity and maintain it—whether we will face the issue, in a kind, a manly and noble manner, or shrink, depart from it and allow it to be crushed down. Our motto is, Meet the issue fairly and squarely, in every instance of opposition to the gospel, in that way that shall prove most effectual. Let there be no evasion, but stand firm and present an unbroken front.

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MANY brethren are inquiring of us about the Spirit, “correct views of the Spirit,” and of “the influence of the Spirit,” and insisting that we should respond to some things that are published, etc.; but, for the present, to all this we must simply say, that the Lord knows our hearts. He knows who have the Spirit, who are led by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit and endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He knows them who are his, who love him and keep his commandments. Blessed be his name; he is able to keep them from falling, make all grace abound to them and preserve them to his heavenly appearing and kingdom. With them, his great work is a reality, a real work, the greatest and best of all the works in which human beings have ever engaged; and they believe he is with them, will be with them while they shall struggle for his cause in this world, and will be with them in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to the gospel. In him they [356] have put their everlasting trust;to him they have committed their cause, and to him they look for their final reward. They fear not what man can do to them, nor what he can say of them, but they fear him who is able to save and able to destroy, who is able to kill and able to make alive. We have nothing at stake only the cause of truth, of righteousness and humanity. We have no theory of our own to maintain, no philosophy to defend, nor pride of opinion to guard, but are willing to learn of the most humble disciple in the whole kingdom of God. If any brother really has more of the spirit of the Lord than we have, we envy him not because he has more than we, but we are only sorry that we have less than he.

By the way, as we now appear agreed that the Spirit of God should be actually received and enjoyed by the saints, whether that agreement be enforced by the terms of Scripture merely, or from the heart, God knows. There remains but a single point of importance in our mind. That is not, and has not been, whether the Spirit of God is actually received and enjoyed by the children of God; but whether any teachings are communicated to man, or revelations made, either before or after conversion, to saint or sinner, except through the senses. Are not the revelations of God inscribed upon the sacred pages of the Bible, the only teachings from heaven, for both the church and the world, and are not these imparted to man through the senses? We do not believe that there are any revelations from God, or teachings, binding upon man, for saint or sinner, only those in the Bible, and these are imparted to man through the senses. If this is sensuous philosophy, then we are in for it.

MUCH as has been said upon the evils of sectarianism, within the last forty or fifty years, it is still true, that no one has given the subject too high a coloring. Its evils are equal to the most brilliant description we have had. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive how any one could speak, in too strong terms, of this one evil; yet, the sin of partyism, like many other sins of these times, is so fashionable and popular, that it is scarcely seen to be a sin at all. It is true, all seem to look upon it as a sin, for a man to create partyism and strife in the party to which he belongs, or any other party. But, to keep up the parties now in existence, and defend the peculiarities upon which they are predicated, and from which they receive their very existence, is considered serving God. Now, if it can be considered service to the Lord, to build up and keep up that old mother and mistress of all heresy, the Roman Catholic Church, then, why was not the very mystery of iniquity, already working in John’s day, doing service to God, in originating that grand establishment of sin and iniquity? Surely, it is giving as much glory to God to set on foot a great or a small religious scheme, as to keep it in motion after it is once started. [358]

If it is doing the will of God to build up and sustain the Episcopalian Church now; surely, he was doing the will of God who originated it. This, no one will doubt. The same is true of the Lutheran, the Presbyterian, the Methodist Episcopal and all the indescribable parties which have descended from them. If it is service to the Lord now, to build them up, it was equally as great service to him to originate them. It is a fact, too, that all these parties honor their originators as the greatest and best men the world has had.

Now, how much should the opinions of these parties be considered worth? or, how much are the most earnest and solemn decisions they ever made, to be regarded? They would consider us highly uncharitable, if we did not regard these decisions as most solemnly true. Well, if the Roman Catholic Church ever made an earnest, an authoritative decision, in the world, it was when she declared Martin Luther a heretic. And what man, since his day, has broken off from an old party and established a new one, without most earnestly and solemnly being declared a heretic? No such man can be mentioned. The old party always decides that a new one, that breaks off from it, is a heresy. In this way, all the parties now in existence, have been decided heresies, and the leaders in them heretics. Yet, these heresies, as they have styled them, headed by those who have been decided heretics, have grown up, and are now called “evangelical churches.” How is all this? If the Lord never authorized them to be started, did he authorize their perpetuation? And if he did authorize them to be started, were not the old parties awfully wicked in condemning them, when they were doing the will of the Lord? [359]

It, then, presents a fearful picture—turn the matter which way you may. If the parties, passing sentences, were wicked, and opposing the will of God, then are almost all wicked and sinful—for all the older and more popular, have passed such sentences. But if those upon whom sentence has been passed, are sinful, and under condemnation, then there are but few good, for such sentences have been passed upon nearly all. Such is the dilemma, in which partyism has involved the religious world.

If ever the adversary of man discovered an effectual stratagem, by means of which to defeat all piety, and do execution in opposing the faith of God’s elect, it was when he succeeded in sowing the seeds of dissension in the church of God. Our Lord’s words show that he had this before his mind, when he uttered the solemn prayer, John xvii. 20; “I pray not for these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through their word; that they may all be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” Here it is clearly implied, that if those who believe, through the word, were one, the tendency would be to induce the world to believe. Nor is this any more clearly implied than the opposite, viz: that the lack of union among believers, leads to unbelief. How vain and imaginative the thought, that the existing parties of our times, will ever be instrumental in the hand of God, in converting the world, when the structure of their own organization, in itself, has a continual tendency to infidelity. Are we told that such is an ungenerous charge? Well, who can avoid it? The language of the [360] Lord, just quoted, clearly implies that the faith of the world depends on the unity of believers; and we all admit, that the world cannot be converted without faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please God; for they that would come to him must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him.” The matter is too clear to be misunderstood. The Lord saw that the world would not believe, till his people were one; hence, he prayed that they might be one, that the world might believe.

Need we pray for the conversion of the world? need we send missionaries to convince the pagan nations? need we print and circulate bibles? need we build churches, and preach with the zeal of apostles, in all the length and breadth of the land? I say, need we do all this, thinking to convert the world, while we maintain our own unhallowed divisions among believers? And, if we do, what evidence have we that the object we have in view will ever be attained? Not the least in the world; for so long as the Lord prays that we may be one—that the world may believe—we need not expect the world to believe, while we are not one.

It is true, we may convince, convert and save some, under the most disadvantageous circumstances; but what is this, compared with the world believing or being converted? It is only a drop to the ocean. Why not, then, come back to this great obstacle, and remove it, that the conquests of righteousness and grace may extend over the earth?

It is confessed by all, in our time, that the Lord’s people are a spiritual people, and if any have not the Spirit of Christ, they are none of his. All are aware, too, that carnality is the opposite of [361] spirituality. What, then, is an evidence of carnality? I. Cor. iii. 3, Paul asserts: “For ye are carnal.” What reason does he give for this assertion? “For,” says he, “whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions; are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” He here alludes to their divisions, as an evidence of their carnality, or want of spirituality. But he argues the case further, as follows: “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” He here continues the charge, that their following different leaders is an evidence of their carnality. It should be kept in mind, too, that the divisions among the Corinthians were of the mildest form. If they could not be justified by the apostle, none since his time could be, for none less offensive have ever existed. If the Corinthian church, then, deserved the charge of carnality, as they certainly did, how will the parties of our times escape the same charge?

Now, let reason ask—let righteousness ask—let every thing great and good ask: Can the believers now on earth, sincerely, devoutly and fervently, pray and labor for the conversion of the world, to the Lord Jesus, in this state of carnality? It is alleged that carnality, or the absence of the Spirit of God in the hearts of believers, is not the cause of division? Then who are they that separate themselves? Let the Scripture answer: “These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” There is no higher nor surer evidence of sensuality, carnality, and the absence of the Spirit of the Lord, than division among the professed followers of Christ. [362]

While this evil exists among the believers, can we pray in faith for the conversion of the world? Can carnal professors, in the absence of the Spirit of the Lord, without a sufficiency of the love of Christ, to fellowship but a small portion of those for whom Christ died, and who profess to love and serve him, hope that God will make them instrumental in converting the world? No, we need not flatter ourselves with the fond conceit, that anything like general saving influence will ever be felt by the world, until those for whom Jesus prayed are one. The meek and lowly Spirit of the Lord is displaced by the proud and fierce spirit of the partisan. The lovely and inviting character of the first church has disappeared and in its stead we have the inducements of gorgeous worldly and fleshly establishments. In the place of even being truly turned from sin to righteousness—from the power of Satan to God—we have conversions that merely consist in opposing all creeds and parties but the one into which the converts happen to fall, while they frequently love the Lord no better than before their conversion. In the place of that universal philanthropy exhibited by our Lord’s death, for the whole world, such converts are merely filled with party bigotry, which dislikes—yes, even hates—every body not of the “same faith and order.” Under the influence of such religion, people live near each other, see each other every day—yet associate not, nor allow their children to associate, nor even worship the Lord their God in the same house. And why this careful separation? They differ in faith! What difference? Well, they cannot tell exactly, but the learned doctor who sermonizes for them, knows the difference. Go to him, and [363] he will explain it to you. This is no extreme case. Nine-tenths of the members of churches cannot tell the difference between their own church and another. Yet, it is so great, that they cannot fellowship the other.

TO make serious reply to this deceitful, deceptive and empty pretence, is a little hard to do. To see a person who can not go three squares to the house of God on foot, especially if it should be a little unpleasant, who can dance till midnight, “for amusement,” speaking of its being healthful, is ridiculous in the extreme. It may be, for anything we know, that for any person who has become so useless as to sit, day after day, and not move enough to circulate their blood, dancing would prove healthful. But there are a thousand things better for them. A visit to the sick, to the poor and the distressed, with something for their necessities, would be vastly better for both soul and body. Almost any kind of useful labor would be more healthful, and leave vastly less remorse of conscience. But if a person has such an aversion to labor to visiting the sick, the poor and needy, or doing anything useful, they deserve no health, and the world will only be the better off when they are out of it. More health, permanent happiness and real enjoyment are found in an industrious and useful life than all [364] the seekers of pleasure ever knew. The man of useful life has no time for pleasure and amusement. His time is taken up, wholly taken up, and he is so happy in it, that it appears short, in constant acts of usefulness. But pleasure-seekers are constantly devising how to while away time, to pass it off or murder it. Time appears the greatest burthen they have, through their whole life, and, at death, the trouble is, that they have not more time. The good man appears pressed through life to do the good he desires to do, but when death comes, his work is done, well done, and he dies in hope of hearing the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.”

THERE is nothing in Scripture called “family worship,” and yet what we mean by that expression, is the oldest worship in the world. Holy men in every age worshipped God in the family. But the time and manner of conducting it, is left to the sense of propriety, and discretion of the head of the family. Paul says: “I will therefore, that men pray everywhere.” 1 Tim. ii. 8. He also speaks of remembering the brethren in his prayers, night and day. He could not do this, without praying “night and day.” The Lord went out into a mountain and [365] continued in prayer all night. Luke vi. 12. The first disciples “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” Acts i. 14. Cornelius said, “at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house.” Acts x. 30. This, we presume he got from pious Jews, as it was before his conversion to the christian faith. “When they prayed the place was shaken where they were.” Acts iv. 31. These are but meager specimens of what the Scriptures say about prayer. The history of the first Christians is full of prayer. If you wish to know where they prayed you only need find where they were, for they were “instant in prayer”—“prayed night and day”—“prayed always”—“prayed everywhere”—“prayed without ceasing.” They prayed “on the house-tops,” “in the house,” by the “sea-shore,” “in the prison,” and “in the assembly.” They prayed wherever they were. We should do the same.

They spent much more time upon their knees, than the professors of religion in our day. The sin that we fear is not that brethren do not pray in their families, but that they do not pray any place half as much as they should. Now if the first Christians prayed wherever they were, even when confined in a prison, why should any man who wishes to do the will of God hesitate to pray in his family? Can any man show a better place, ordinarily, for reading the Scriptures and prayer? Can there be any objection to this place? Are not christians required to pray everywhere? Will not God hear a christian in his family? No one doubts that it is as suitable and appropriate as any place on earth. “Why then, is it not commanded?” Because there are thousands of christians who have neither houses or families, and the Lord has left [366] the way open so that they can worship God just as acceptably in whatever place they may be, as the man who has an orderly family and home. The Lord has left the head of the family free to determine the appropriate place to worship. But woe to that christian who objects to the family circle, as a suitable place, and then does not worship any place. But we never saw a good reason and do not believe there is any, against the orderly custom of reading a portion of Scripture and praying in the family, and we believe that those fathers and mothers whose children never heard them pray, will most solemnly lament it when they see the Lord Jesus at his coming. “Pray without ceasing, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.”

WE claim that the religion of Jesus Christ is a complete, perfect and divine system, in itself; distinct from, superior to, and as high above every thing else as heaven is above this earth; and that all who desire to do so, can determine what it is, practice it and be christians. We claim that the gospel is complete, perfect and divine; distinct from, and independent of, everything else, and that he who desires it, may know precisely what it is, believe it with all the heart, obey it and [367] be saved by it; otherwise the Lord could not be just and good in condemning the man who does not believe it, or does not obey it. The matter, therefore, with us now is not to determine what the truth is, or the gospel; this we have long since settled. We, as a people, know the truth, the saving truth, the only saving truth, as a whole, or in its embodiment, or concentrated form, though many may not understand it in detail, and the great matter now is to practice it, enjoy it and advocate it. God intends or purposes it for all mankind, as much as he did for us. It is now our duty to make it known among all mankind; or, as Paul expresses it, “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who hath created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God, according to his eternal purpose.”

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BUT there is one course infallibly safe for us, and that is to follow the New Testament phraseology. We ought not only to use New Testament names, but should pay some regard to the frequency of the use of those names. When a man uses the name christian more in one half hour than it is used in the whole New Testament, it is a clear evidence that there is something wrong with him. The same is true of the name Disciple, or any other designation found in the Scriptures. The man who is truly under Jesus, not only uses New Testament designations for the people of God, but uses them in the same manner as found in Scripture. We never find “Christian church” in Scripture. We find no “Disciple church,” or “Disciples’ church,” in the New Testament. Such names are incongruous. Yet they are current in some sections of country. In some parts of Kentucky and Indiana you hear of the “Christian church” very frequently. In the Western Reserve, Ohio, you will hear both “Disciple church” and “Disciples’ church” very frequently. In the New Testament “the church of Christ” is found; but “the church of God” much more frequently. The members are called Christians, Disciples, and frequently only designated “people of God,” “children of God,” “brethren,” etc. By giving a little attention, we can converse in the [369] same way. In nine cases out of ten, we can express ourselves in the simple words, “the brethren,” “the church,” etc., and be as perfectly understood as if we would adopt the most sectarian designation.

The adoption of all names unknown to the New Testament, is wholly unwarrantable. There is no matter of more importance than this. Let us learn to use the precise language of the New Testament, and use it in the same sense as used there; and, above all, see to it, that we not only call ourselves Christians and Disciples, but that we be indeed Christians, Disciples.

WILL the dead maintain their identity and individuality? Is there any clear light on this? We will not discuss it, but refer to a few evidences. Fifteen hundred years after Moses died, and before any had risen from the dead, he held a conversation with Jesus in the mountain of transfiguration. He had not lost his identity nor his individuality. He did not lose his consciousness. See Matt. xvii. 1–4; Mark ix. 2–4; Luke ix. 28–30. The rich man died, and in hades he lifted up his eyes in torment. See Luke xvi. 23. He did not lose his identity, [370] individuality or consciousness. Nor is there any account of his existence being such as he had before he was born. Nor did Lazarus lose his identity, individuality or consciousness. These men were both identified, conscious, and retained their individuality. They were not in the same place or state, though both were in hades. There was a great gulf between them—the one in Abraham’s bosom, and the other in tartaros.

We are not to assume that, because we find soul and spirit used interchangeably in some instances, they always mean the same, much less that they always mean life. When Paul prays that the “whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless,” he does not use the words soul and spirit in the same sense, any more than he uses the words soul and the body in the same sense. He does not use the spirit, soul and body, in the same sense, or as meaning the same thing, but each having its own meaning. The word soul is used with more latitude than the word spirit. The word soul is frequently used in the sense of person, as “the soul that sinneth shall die;” “eight souls were saved in the ark,” and other cases. The word soul is used in the sense of life, in some instances. But it is used synonymously with spirit, in the following: “Are not able to kill the soul.” Matt. x. 28. Man can kill the body and the natural life, but the soul or spirit, man can not kill. The living being that dwells in the body, or the “inner man,” does not die when the body dies. This “inner man” may be “at home in the body, or absent from the body and present with the Lord.” This “inner man” may be caught away to paradise, in the body or out of the body. But we cannot go into the discussion of these matters, now. [371]

We do not receive the idea of men losing their identity, individuality or consciousness; the transmigration of the soul, or the pre-existence of the soul; nor the atheistic idea that “death is an eternal sleep.” We can find better, and certainly more profitable themes than these, on which to dwell, both in our meditations, preaching and writing. Let us be careful and not get out where the water is too deep—we might find it over our heads.

IT is infallibly safe, because no man has ever been able to show any evil consequences that could possibly follow the believer, upon any hypothesis. No man of any reason has ever doubted the safety of relying upon the Bible, if it be true. But we go beyond this, and declare, without hesitation, that if it were possible for it to prove untrue, it is infallibly safe to believe and rely upon it. Its moral precepts, to say the least, are good as any on earth. Its requirements in all our present relations are competent to make us as good and happy as we are capable of being in this life. And, certainly, if it could possibly prove untrue, the belief of it could not endanger our happiness in the life to come. Beyond all controversy, he who believes and practices the Bible, attains to the highest perfection and happiness of which his [372] being is capable in this life, and stands as good a chance for happiness in the life to come as he who rejects it. And if, in the end, the whole could be shown to be a mistake, no man living can show that the believer in the Bible can possibly be in danger, in this world or in the world to come. No evil consequences can possibly follow the believer, in any event. It is strange, if that which is infallibly safe, should not prove true.

GOD is unchangeable; the same yesterday, to-day and forever. Jesus, the manifestation of God in the flesh, and the exact representation of his person, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily; the concentration and embodiment of all divine benevolence, goodness and perfection, is unvaryingly the same—the constant, the ever blessed and merciful philanthropist. Christianity, as set forth upon the sacred pages of the New Testament, is but the revelation of the mystery from the beginning of the world, hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ, but the development of the eternal purpose of God, the unfolding of the infinite benevolence, mercy and goodness, in a gracious system of pardon, restoration and final redemption, for all them who obey him, through the proclamation of the glorious gospel of [373] the blessed God. It was the infinite goodness that prompted it, the infinite will that resolved it, the infinite wisdom that devised it, and infinite power that executed it. God first purposed the gracious scheme of benevolence. He then promised it to Abraham, saying, “In thee, and in thy seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” He succeeded this promise by many clear predictions of the prophets, and divine testimonies from their hallowed lips. Yet these things were not understood by mortal man. Great and good men believed the promise and the testimonies of the prophets, rested in hope and died in faith, without understanding; fully appreciating or comprehending the full import of the good things to come. Eye had not then seen, ear had not heard, nor had it entered into the heart of man to conceive the good things God had prepared for them that love him. The things now revealed in the gospel, had been hid for ages, and not made known to the sons of men. Christianity is now a mystery explained, a secret revealed—that which was hid in God, made known—the purpose of God developed—a promise fulfilled according to the Scriptures of the prophets, and the commandment of the everlasting God, made known among all nations for the obedience of faith.

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AN apostle has thought it needful to enjoin upon us, “Earnestly contend for the faith formerly delivered to the saints.” An old soldier of the cross, when about to put off his armor, rejoiced that he had fought a good fight, kept the faith and finished his course. In the course of his warfare, we are informed that he disputed “two whole years” in a certain school, or contended for the faith. This warfare, disputing or contending, is an advocacy, a defence and maintenance of the faith once delivered to the saints. The first thing, in order to this advocacy, is to ascertain what the “faith once delivered to the saints” is, and the next thing is to advocate it, maintain and defend it with every power. The faith exists in two forms: 1. In its concentrated, embodied, or constitutional form, as it is presented for the confession of the new convert, in a single proposition, that it may be received or rejected by either an affirmative or a negative answer. 2. In its fully developed or detailed form, as we find it spread upon the pages of the christian Scriptures. This is the creed of the church by which she is governed and guided in all her journey through this world.

The whole of the detailed or fully developed creed, so far as its truth or authority is concerned, is in the concentrated, embodied or constitutional creed. Indeed the whole system of christianity was in [375] the purpose of God, which he purposed in Christ before the world, in the promise to Abraham, in the good news borne by the angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, in the last commission, in the same sense that it was in Christ. But it was not put in due form for mankind to confess, receive and place themselves under it. The same that was in the “eternal purpose” of God, in the promise, in the good news of great joy and in the commission, was in the announcement, “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased,” in the confession of Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the same that John testified that we might believe, when he said, “These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” or that God uttered in the mountain when he gave him honor and glory, or the same is contained in any one of these that is contained in “the gospel.” Any one of these expressions, and many others that could be maintained, contain christianity in its concentrated, embodied or constitutional form. These all embrace Christ. All christianity centers in him, comes from him and is authorized by him. Through the holy witnesses of Jesus, men are made acquainted with Christ, convinced that he is a divine person, the Son of God and the Savior of the world; and, in the confession, receive him as their only Leader. This is simply receiving christianity in its constitutional form, without having examined its details or knowing what they are. We do not, therefore, read christianity through, sitting in judgment, as we do, a merely human composition, noticing every expression to see whether it [376] is good or true. When we become acquainted with the Author, find him sent from God, declared his Son in his resurrection from the dead, divine and infallible, we place ourselves under him, and receive his holy instructions implicitly, only wishing to know that they are from him.

Christianity, therefore, in its embodied, or constitutional form, embraces christianity in its details. “The faith once delivered to the saints,” is simply christianity, the complete system as the Lord gave it. All who have confessed Christ intelligently, have received christianity, committed themselves to it. This is “the faith,” that which is to be advocated, maintained and defended. The man who has received it with the whole heart, practices it, and enjoys it, is a christian. The requirement of heaven resting upon him is, to earnestly contend for the faith, advocate, maintain and defend it.

WE showed from the pulpit, fully thirty years ago, that the answer of Peter to the three thousand on Pentecost, was not the same as the answer of Ananias, to Saul, of Tarsus, and the answer to Saul was not the same as the answer of Paul, to the Philippian jailer, and gave the reason for the difference. But that was not a difference between then and now, but difference in view of the difference in the [377] conditions of persons at the same time. The same difference is observed now, by all intelligent preachers, where they find the difference in the conditions of persons. If a man is a believer, they do not command him to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” If he has repented, they do not command him to repent. Or, if he has been immersed, they do not command him to be immersed; but to go on and unite with others who have been immersed into Christ, and observe all things, whatever the Lord has commanded. But attention to this is no difference between then and now, nor did the preacher, thirty years ago, fail to observe this difference, any more than now. On the contrary, the preachers then generally understood this better than the preachers do now.

We noticed the articles in question, carefully, to see the difference in the condition of things now, demanding the different treatment, but in vain; we did not see it. The plain state of the case is, that there is no general difference, and we now need the same gospel, presented in the same manner, as they needed then. Preaching always did take better effect, when presented in a pleasant manner, than when presented in an abrupt and repulsive manner. This we knew thirty years ago, as well as we know it now. All that can be truthfully said about this, opens the way for no change—no new departure. Whatever was then true in this respect, is true now. A good and acceptable manner in presenting the gospel was appreciated then as much as it is now, and was of precisely the same value. It was understood then as well as it is [378] now, that every improvement in manner had its value, and more attention was given to the matter then, than now. There was then more sound preaching and teaching, than there is now, and less that was unsound.

We need solid and sound men now, faithful and true, not to preach something different, but the same, not in a different manner from what we had thirty years ago, but in the same manner; not to undo what has been done by the labors of the holy men of the past fifty years, many of whom have fallen asleep in Jesus, but a few remain to this present; but to maintain, defend, perpetuate, and transmit it down through the ages, to the end of time. We want men that will not demoralize the people, specially our young preachers, by opening the way for something new and different; but maintain the same things, and be of the same mind, and of the same judgment; not preparing the way for something new, but maintaining and defending the old, tried and unquestionable; not getting ready for change—new departure—but “preach the word”—“continue in the things they have learned, and been assured of,” and not demoralize our young preachers with the idea of being on the wing; on a flight from one thing to another, in some wonderful career of progress; but exhorting them to be “rooted and grounded in the truth;” yes, more, in the “love of the truth;” not only to maintain “sound speech that can not be condemned”—“sound words,” but the very “form of sound words.”

[379]

WE turn our eyes to the infant in a manger in Bethlehem, and place them upon the child of promise, born according to the divine purpose, to whom God had been pointing from the beginning of time, who is to be the rise and fall of many nations, and the hope of the world, and find that all the divine prophets, and holy Seers of olden times, have been looking to him; that the attention of all heaven is directed to him, and, that the object now is, to engage the attention, enlist the hearts, and center the affections of the whole family of man in him who is called Jesus. Accordingly, wonders surround him of a stupendous character, when he is born. Angels of heaven appear, exclaiming, “We bring you good news of great joy, which shall be to all people. Unto you, this day, in the city of David, a Savior is born, which is Christ the Lord.” After a few incidents connected with his birth, and up till he is two years of age, he passes pretty much without observation, through the period of his minority, and the time comes for the Lord to make him known to Israel. We look and see him approach John the Baptist, demanding baptism at his hands. The good man knew him not as the Messiah, though he knew him as a kinsman, and, in humility says, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me.” The Lord [380] replied, “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness.” With this righteous explanation, the Baptist walked by the side of his Lord, not knowing him to be his Savior, for he says, “I knew him not, but he who sent me to baptize, said, ‘On whomsoever you see the Holy Spirit descending and remaining, that is he.’” Down they enter, hand in hand, into the water. The immerser takes his Redeemer in his hands, and lowers him till his person is buried in the waters of Jordan, and then gently raises him up. As they ascend from the water, they lift their eyes and behold the opening heavens, and the descending Spirit as it forms a visible appearance, and rests upon him whom God would have revealed to Israel. At this moment, the Almighty Father spoke from heaven, in the audience of the people, announcing: “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

[381]

THE grand question to be solved, in this generation, is, whether men can follow the Lord, the only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, as their only Leader, receive his truth as their only guide, his faith as their only faith, his religion as their only religion, and be simply his disciples and no more. Is there such a thing in this world as christianity? All the conflicting parties around us admit that there is. Can we determine what it is? If we can not, no man knows whether he is a christian or not. If we can determine what christianity is, then, why not adopt it, and nothing else? Can we determine what the gospel is? If we can not, then, no man knows whether he is a believer or not, and knows not whether he will be saved or lost. If we can determine what the gospel is then, why in the name of reason not preach the gospel and nothing else? If we can not determine what the church of Christ is, then no man can determine whether he is in the church of Christ or not. If we can determine what the church of Christ is, there can be no excuse for forming any other church, or belonging to any other.

If we can not determine what christianity is, we can not determine who is near to it, or far from it. If we can not determine what the gospel is, we can not decide who comes near to it, or swerves far from it. If [382] the right way can not be known, no man can tell who is near the truth and who is far from it. If we can not tell which the way to heaven is, we can not tell who is near and who is far from it. The world is lost. We are enveloped in impenetrable darkness. The light of heaven is blown out. Hell has triumphed. All is thrown into chaos. An eternal confusion spreads a universal reign. Doubt, uncertainty and gloom extend over the whole habitable earth. The purpose of God has failed, and the malignant purpose of hell has triumphed. The hope of all nations is lost. Our world is ruined!—Black, fearful and awful despair prevail everywhere among men. Is this the condition of our world? Tell us, all you who think that the man is a bigot, a simpleton and pretender, who says he can know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent—that he can know the truth that makes man free—that he can know the gospel—that he can know christianity—that he can know that he is a christian—that he can know the true church; tell us, all you who despise this man for claiming that he can know all this, if you say you cannot know these things, how do you know whether you are right or wrong, in the way to heaven or hell? How can you tell, if you know not these things, whether you are near right, or far from it? How can you tell anything about it?

[383]

THIS glorious person is the soul of the Bible, the center of the whole spiritual system, the attraction for all nations, the ruler, not only among the saints on earth, but also the armies of heaven. God gave him honor and glory, the apostle says, when he proclaimed him his Son in the holy mountain. He walks at the head of the army of God, the true Israel, and among the inhabitants of the earth, proclaiming with all authority, both in heaven and on earth, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.” “I am the resurrection and the life”—“I am he who was dead and am alive, and behold I live forever and ever”—“I have the keys of hell and of death; I can open, and no man can shut; I can shut, and no man can open”—“I am the bright and the morning star, the root and the offspring of David”—“I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me.” “If any man would be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me.” Such are a few of the many expressions setting forth the exalted position of the Christian’s King and the Christian’s Lord. When he was coronated in heaven, crowned Lord of all, the Almighty Father swore that he should reign till all his enemies should be put under his feet—that to him every knee should bow, and every tongue should confess. Lift up your hearts, all you saints, and behold your King! He is the head of the church. Set your affections on him, follow him, and consecrate yourselves to him forever more.

[384]

WE publish the above to show where the pressure comes, and not that we expect any “fifty dollars reward,” for such men as the writer of this, always have a loop-hole through which to escape, but we will see whether the Presbyterian ministry believe “this horrid doctrine.” If they do not believe the Confession of Faith, they are sailing under false colors and their profession is a sham. If they do believe [385] their Confession of Faith, we leave the reader to judge whether they believe “this horrid doctrine.” Let us hear the Confession: “God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the Author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor is the liberty of contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.” Con., page 18, God’s Eternal Decree, chap. iii.

The reader will see nothing about infant damnation in that. Very well; let us see what is in it. This is in it—that God did foreordain unchangeably whatever comes to pass. There is more than this in it—he did this “from all eternity.” Now let us hear the Confession tell what one of these decrees is: “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death.” Con. page 18. When was this done? “From all eternity.” What was it done for? “For the manifestation of his glory.” What was done? “Some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained unto everlasting death.” That makes a plain case of it.

Let us hear the Confession again: “These angels and men thus predestinated and foreordained are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number is so certain and definite that it can not be either increased or diminished.” Con. page 19. This decree of predestination and foreordination is particularly and unchangeably designed, and the number thus particularly and unchangeably designed [386] can not be increased or diminished. But it will be said that this is not said of infants, but of “angels and men.” So it is. But when was this decreed? “From all eternity.” These men “foreordained to everlasting death” were thus “particularly and definitely designed” “from all eternity.” We may not be able to explain precisely the meaning of the words “from all eternity,” but they evidently mean before they were created. Before they were born, then, some men were foreordained to everlasting death. When they were born they were infants; yes, infants “particularly and unchangeably designed” to everlasting death. Those of these infants foreordained, “particularly and unchangeably designed to everlasting death,” who die in infancy are lost. Here, then, in the Confession of Faith, which Presbyterian ministers profess to believe, is the doctrine of infant damnation—yes, “the horrid doctrine,” whether they believe it or not.

But then infant damnation is no worse than the damnation of adults who are foreordained to everlasting death, particularly and unchangeably designed to everlasting death, the number so definite that it can be neither increased nor diminished.

Let us hear the Confession again: “Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hath chosen in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature as conditions or causes moving him thereto; and all to the praise of his glorious grace.” Con., page 21. [387]

In view of this, where is the difference whether infants or adults? The decree of God—his design—settled the matter before they were born, and made it so definite, that the number can neither be increased nor diminished, and that, too, without any foresight of faith or good works in the creature. The immutable decree and design of God has settled the matter, and that, too, before time began. The elect can never be lost, and the non-elect can never be saved, no matter whether infants or adults. To unchangeably foreordain an infant to everlasting death, is no worse than to foreordain a man to everlasting death—design him to it before he was created. But we must, since the account is opened, administer yet another item or two on this matter. “Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion,” is a standard work among Presbyterians, and used as a text-book in their theological schools. Let us hear from this work, Vol. I. page 166: “Hence appears the perverseness of their disposition to murmur, because they intentionally suppress the cause of condemnation, while they are constrained to acknowledge it themselves, hoping to excuse themselves by charging it upon God. But, though I ever so often admit God to be the Author of it, which is perfectly correct, yet this does not abolish the guilt impressed upon their consciences.”

Calvin here says, to confess that God is the Author of sin, which is the cause of condemnation, “is perfectly correct.” Let us hear him again: “I confess, indeed, that all the descendants of Adam fell, by the Divine will, into that miserable condition in which they are now involved; and this is what I asserted from the beginning, that we must [388] always return at last to the sovereign determination of God’s will, the cause of which is hidden in himself,” Inst., page 166. Here Calvin says, “Adam fell by the Divine will.” Let us hear him once more: “If God simply foresaw the fates of men, and did not also dispose and fix them, by his determination, there would be room to agitate the question, whether his providence or foresight rendered them at all necessary. But since he foresaw future events only in consequence of his decree that they should happen, it is useless to contend about foreknowledge, while it is evident that all things come to pass rather by ordination and decree.” Inst., page 171.

Here it is argued that God foreknows “only in consequence of his decree.” But we must hear this great master in the Presbyterian Israel again: “I inquire again how it came to pass that the fall of Adam, independent of any remedy, should involve so many nations, with their infant children, in eternal death, but because such was the will of God?” Inst., page 170. Is there any infant damnation in this? But he says, “independent of any remedy.” He does so say, but for the non-elect there is no remedy. They and their infant children are involved in eternal death, and that “because such was the will of God.” In these passages we have it clearly taught that God is the Author of sin; that not only Adam, but many nations, with their infant children, are involved in eternal death, and that, too, according to the will of God, because he willed, designed—decreed it.

See one more item from the Confession, chap. v. sec. 4: “The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom and infinite wisdom and goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence that it extendeth itself to [389] the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifest dispensation to his own holy ends.” It is seen from this that the Confession teaches that even the providence of God extends not only to the first fall, but to all other sins of angels of men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as has joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifest dispensation to his own holy ends.

Let us hear the Larger Catechism, page 195: “They who have never heard the gospel, know not Jesus Christ, and believe not in him, can not be saved, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature or the laws of that religion which they possess; neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ alone, who is the Savior only of his body, the church.” What becomes of all those who die without remedy, with their infant children? If Presbyterian ministers do not believe this horrible doctrine of infant damnation, it is because they do not believe their own Confession of Faith, and standard works. We can supply them with plenty more of the same sort, if there is any demand for it.

[390]

THE antediluvians would not be warned by the preaching of Noah, and suspected nothing till the flood came, and swept them all away. The Jews in like manner would not be warned by our Lord and his apostles, and could not be aroused from their apathy and indifference till their devoted city was invested with armies. So shall it be at the coming of the Son of man. Great trials are upon those who intend to maintain truth and righteousness. May we be able to stand the coming conflict. The love of many is growing cold, and those weary of the restraints of Christ are coming to the surface. Let us not slumber, but watch and strengthen the things that remain and are ready to die. Let us hold fast and be faithful, lest the trying hour come on us unexpected. Let us sing, and sing with the spirit and the understanding: “Nearer, my God, to thee.” May we find grace to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.

[391]

WITH preachers from the farms, shops, stores, law offices, doctors’ offices, with a little learning, and many almost without it, we carried this cause forward, and in defiance of all opposition have triumphantly planted it in all directions in this and in many other countries. The power was not in the men but in the truth of God; the clear and unquestionable truth, that could be made plain and reliable to all men, and that, too, with very little learning or talent. The ground taken was invulnerable, manifestly right. The Bible is from God, divine, and admitted by all to be right, and there is not a reason in the world for not taking and going by it. We have struck down all human authorities, human names, and humanism of every sort, and restored to the people of this generation to a wonderful degree the divine, the supreme and absolute authority of the Bible, and are now commanding respect in a remarkable degree, not as a new denomination, but as the people of God, called out from the world and from Babylon, and planted upon the Rock of God.

The man that runs against this cause and opposes it is not simply running against men and opposing them, but against God, and must come to nothing. The cause is simply right, infallibly right, and nothing [392] opposed to it is right. In this view we started in it, and have never had a doubt about its correctness and supreme authority over everything else in the name of religion. In our incipient movements every member was a preacher, if not publicly, privately, and every preacher was at work, as opportunity opened the way, in private, the social circle, the prayer-meeting, the established and regular meeting on the Lord’s day for the commemoration of the suffering of Jesus, anywhere and everywhere, as a sense of propriety dictated on all occasions. There were additions at almost every meeting, whether for prayer, or on the Lord’s day, and frequently when there were no meetings. All were missionaries, and missionaries all the time. Great numbers were almost daily added to the church, of both men and women. Indeed, many of the sectarian priests became obedient to the faith.

We had discipline in the church—order, and the members were looked after; not only the popular and rich, but the afflicted and the poor. All were enlisted in the work, and had time to give attention to it. The evangelists were self-sacrificing men, seeking the salvation of the people, and preached in private dwellings, school houses, in barns, mills, groves, anywhere and everywhere that a few people could be found, who would hear the word of the Lord. The people crowded out to hear, and, hearing, believed to the salvation of their souls. They were of one heart and of one soul. The Bible was their book. “Thus saith the Lord” was their watchword, and a man that would sneer at it would have been regarded as a skeptic. “It is written” would be heard in the preaching and conversations. “The chapter and verse” were demanded. It [393] was not the novelty of the cause that gave it the victory, but the certainty that it was right—that it was from God and of supreme authority—that carried it to the hearts of the people. It was not unsupportable human schemes and devices that gave it power among the people, but the invulnerable nature of the cause itself. It was not the polish of classical and plausible men that carried it through the country, but the manifest authority of God in it.

Jesuits can only excel in being Jesuits; schemers can only excel in scheming; but “the excellency of the power” that pushed this cause through this country was not of Jesuits nor schemers, but of God; the preaching of the cross, the wisdom of God and the power of God. We knew nothing but Christ and him crucified, and went ahead with our plain and unvarnished story of Calvary. God was with us.

A GRAND phalanx of younger men, with fine education, abundant talent, and as true hearts as ever beat, are rallying to the principles, coming to the rescue, and have set their seal that “God is true,” and that “the word of God is not bound.” Ten of these for every one of the old men falling are making their appearance. They are rousing up all over [394] the country, and new pens are coming to the rescue. God is with these young men, dwells in them and will hold them up. They are not mercenary men, but men of God—men of faith. We could name scores of them. They are found in all directions. They are reading, working, preaching the gospel and bringing sinners to the Lord. These are for the old ground—“The Bible and the Bible alone.” Many of them are now wielding master pens, and are master speakers. They are becoming masters of the situation. They will walk through the progressive elements, like Sampson carrying away the gate-posts, or pulling down the pillars of the house. While others will become “offended because of the word,” these will love the word, and all the hallowed principles involved, more and more, and stand true till the Lord comes. They will hear them ringing out the old watchwords, “It is written,” “Thus saith the Lord,” etc., etc. They will find a formidable array of these—a wall of them that can never be broken down.

They will find that the great masses of the followers of Christ have never been perverted, have never departed from their principles, and have not the least idea of ever doing so, but intend to stand by them till the last. These are the great stamina of the cause. A few city people, who read but little, have studied but little, and are governed by sound and show, do not control in these matters, nor a few rich men. The great body of the numbers who are scattered abroad, hear good gospel preaching, take the papers, read them, and read the Bible, decide the course, tell the story. These are not led away by a few glittering words, by sound, nor by clerical pretensions. You need not [395] read to them your dreamy philosophy, metaphysical speculations, distinctions where there are no differences, prosing through your long articles of twenty to thirty pages; they will not read all this, nor will they believe without reading. They are plain and practical people, and must known what they are doing. These know the gospel and love it. They know the right way of the Lord and will not walk in any other way.

We work in faith, rest in hope, with the strong and blessed assurance that this cause will live and go on triumphantly when our part of it shall be finished. What we are concerned with, is how to do our part, that may still remain, to the best purpose.

THERE is nothing in the Bible about the resurrection of souls or spirits. The resurrection has to do with bodies, not souls nor spirits. It was the body of Jesus that rose from the dead. It was bodies that came forth after Jesus rose and were seen of many. Mortal bodies shall be quickened. The resurrection has nothing to do with the spirit in the way of raising it or making it alive. If man becomes extinct at death there is nothing to raise from the dead. Other beings might be created, but the words resurrection and creation are not [396] of the same meaning. The creation of Adam was not the same as raising Lazarus from the dead. We use the two words, or find them used in the Bible, create and resurrection, to express two distinct ideas. If man becomes extinct at death there remains no man to raise from the dead. Other persons might be created, and there would be no identity to lose, for they would not be identical, but others. We need plain Bible truth; the matters of the Bible, and not theories about the pre-existence of spirits or the transmigration of souls. The plain truth of the Bible will save us; idle speculations will ruin us for this world and the world to come. Let us study and preach the clear truth of divine revelation and enforce it on our race. It is the only hope for all nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples of the earth.

TOUCHING the “anointing with oil in the name of the Lord,” we think no literal “anointing with oil” is enjoined. The praying for him, in the Christian dispensation, answers to the “anointing with oil,” in the old institution. It is simply a figurative allusion to the anointing, and not the actual use of oil. The praying for the sick, in the name of the Lord, is the anointing. [397]

The Lord raises sick people up, in numerous instances, without any miracle. He may do this now, in answer to prayer, when consistent with his will. It matters nothing that we can not tell how he does it. He can do it. This is enough.

THERE is nothing more important for individuals or bodies of people than clearly defined and well settled principles. To stand the test, and be of any importance to the world, the principles of an individual or a body of people, must be correct, and of vital importance. They should also be clearly defined, well understood, and constantly kept in view. It is then not only safe, but of the highest importance to adhere to them with the most determined pertinacity, fixed purpose and inflexible firmness. When principles are of the character we have described, it is dangerous to swerve, shrink or depart from them, in the least degree. Adherence—the most strict, rigid and determined adherence—to correct, clearly defined and settled principles, of a vital character, is indispensable to permanence, stability and happiness. If the principles thus defined are divine, departure from them is apostasy. [398]

We are not speaking of subtle principles, requiring the utmost stretch of intelligence or learning to understand, or even to perceive them, when clearly set forth. There may he principles of this kind, correct ones, too, but we think, never practical. That which is practical and vital, is never so subtle as to require the utmost stretch of intelligence, either to set it forth or understand it. The Bible has its deep things, profound and wonderful, requiring the utmost stretch of human intelligence to set them forth, or understand them; or, it may be, deeper than human intelligence can fully fathom, but they are not the practical, and if vital in any sense, it is not vital that we should understand them. If we could not be Christians, serve, or please our heavenly Father, without understanding all such, it would certainly put it out of the power of the masses, to be acceptable at all. We know this is not so.

In precisely the same way, in nature, there are certain things that we must know, or we can not enjoy the blessings God has in nature for us. There are certain principles in nature that are practical and vital, and we must know them and act in continual reference to them, or we will come to inevitable ruin. But they are not subtle, deep and profound principles, requiring the utmost stretch of intelligence to set them forth or understand them. These lie upon the surface, are the first things we come to, and may be easily learned, and understood sufficiently for all practical purposes. God has wisely arranged, in both nature and grace, or in the temporal and spiritual kingdoms, so that what we must know may be easily learned, thus showing his benevolence in both, and that both have marks of the same Authorship. In these matters there is no excuse for being misled. In other words, if any one is misled, he must be an easy dupe, a willing victim. [399]

In religion, on the part of the man of faith, certain principles are settled, and not to be opened anew, and investigated from the foundation, every time any new phase may appear. Certain other matters are so self-evident, that they need only to be well stated to satisfy any ordinary mind. These are the matters that move the world, and not the abstruse and subtle things. They are the matters that carry conviction to the mind, settle the understanding, and leave it in a state of satisfaction and rest. They call out the response, almost involuntarily, that is so. It does not have to be proved again.

As an illustration:—In a union meeting in which we participated, many years ago, and after the discussions had continued eight days and nights, in which some ten parties participated, on the last evening of the meeting, a gentleman rose and inquired if he might speak, at the same time explaining that he was a sceptic. The chairman said that it was no church meeting, and if he intended speaking to the point before the meeting, he should be heard. Several expressed a desire to hear him, and no one objected. He said he only intended to say a few words. Pointing to those of us who contended for union on the Bible, he said: “If the Bible is true, these men are right, for they insist on your taking the Bible and going by it. If the Bible is not true, I am right, and there is no show at all for the balance of you.” That is a case that needs no argument. [400]

Before we belonged to the church, we spent a few days in a worthy family. The head of the family was a class leader in the M. E. Church, a kind-hearted and good man. He was zealous, and desired to benefit us religiously, and made sundry attempts to talk to us. We knew but little about the matters of which he talked, and really did not desire to say enough to discover to him how little we did know. But after further acquaintance we inquired of him as follows: “If a man will take the Scriptures, read them, believe them, and do what they require, will he not be a Christian?” With somewhat of an air of surprise, he replied: “No; he must have something more than that.” This “something more than that” was the perplexing part. What more could there be than the Scriptures require? Then, if there is something more than the Scriptures require, how did any man find it out? And, still further, what is it? If it is not required in Scripture, how does any man know that it is required at all? Of course we mean on the human part, or that which is required of man. When we inquire how a man is to obtain a crop of corn, we do not mean how he is to make soil, how he is to get atmosphere, sunshine, rain, etc., but how he is to perform his part. If the soil has not in it the qualities to produce corn; if the right state of atmosphere is not given, the sun does not shine, and the rain does not come, he is not to blame. It is useless to preach about the properties of the soil, the atmosphere, the warm sunshine, the rain, etc., in showing a man how to grow corn. On all these matters a man might preach philosophically, learnedly and correctly, but not another grain of corn would grow, for all his fine talk. This is not the practical nor the human part. But the man must be instructed [401] how to put the ground in order, how to plant and cultivate, in showing him how to obtain a crop of corn, with the divine blessing, but certainly not without it.

First. We have long since settled the question about the authority of the Bible. That is no more an open question, unless we please, for the sake of argument, to look at it as an open question. We receive what the Bible says implicitly, or because the Bible says it.

Second. Then it is the rule, and there is not a reason in this world for not taking it and going by it. It is the rule, the final, the absolute authority. It must be received in all things.

Third. Then the gospel preached by the apostles—precisely, no more, no less, no other—must be preached by us. What they preached then or in their time must be preached now or in our time.

Fourth. The gospel preached by the apostles was precisely what the people were required to believe, in their time, and what they did believe to the salvation of their souls. This same gospel precisely is what the people in our time are required to believe, and what they must believe to the salvation of their souls, or not be saved at all.

Fifth. The things commanded to be done in the preaching of the gospel by the apostles were the things which they did that they might be saved. The same things precisely which they were commanded to do, and which they did to be saved, are the things now commanded to be done by those who believe the gospel, that they may be saved. These things must be done now for precisely the same purpose as they were then. [402]

Sixth. If, with precisely the same faith, the same things are done, for the same purpose, the same result will follow. No man can give a reason against this conclusion.

Seventh. When persons are turned to the Lord now or have become christians, the same instructions imparted to the first Christians should be imparted to them, to show them how to serve God and be finally saved. If this is not so, then no man can show how we are to be guided to the everlasting city.

We give these as a few of the clear principles from which we can not turn away without apostasy and utter ruin. These are vital and fundamental matters, and no man can infringe on them or treat them with indifference without being held in distrust. No man will turn round and repudiate all of them at once, but those who turn away will depart little by little, introducing a little new, leaving a little out, and encroaching on these principles, first in this and then in that. Such men will flounder and think themselves abused if we do not think they are perfectly sound. But there are some things we can not think. We can not think white is black, or that black is white. We can not believe without evidence. If men desire us to think they are sound they must give us the evidence to prove it and we will rejoice to believe it. They can easily do this if they are sound.

[403]

WE never say my church. There is no being on earth who has a right to say my church. The Lord says, Matt. xvi. 18: “On this rock will I build my church.” He has a right to say “my church.” He gave himself for the church. The church belongs to him. He sanctified and cleansed it. This church, in Scripture, is frequently styled simply “the church,” and in our conversation about it, in nine cases out of ten, we can be understood sufficiently explicitly, if we say “the church.” We read of “the church in Jerusalem,” “the church in Corinth,” “the church in Rome,” “the church in Ephesus,” etc. We may say “the church in Cincinnati,” “the church in Covington,” “the church in Louisville,” “the church in Indianapolis,” etc. It is called in Scripture “the body,” “the body of Christ,” “the church of God,” “the church of the living God,” “the kingdom of God,” “the kingdom of heaven,” “the kingdom of God’s dear Son,” etc. These latter designations refer to “the whole family” in the aggregate. This body, or building, or temple, is the one of which Solomon’s temple was only a type. According to Scripture, there is no other church but this. The Spirit of God is in this. The life of Christ is in it. God dwells in it. In it is life. Out of it there is no life. It does not belong to the members, but they belong to it. It does not belong to the preachers, but the preachers belong to it. [404]

We repeat, there is no other church but this according to Scripture. This church originated in Jerusalem more than eighteen hundred years ago. It was established in about one week after our Lord ascended into heaven. The King was coronated and crowned Lord of all. The great High Priest had entered the true holy place, not with the blood of slain beasts, but with his own blood, to make one offering in the end of the ages to purge us forever from our sins. The Spirit of God descended, inspired the apostles, and the church was established. That is the true church, according to Scripture, and there is no other church that has one particle of divine authority in it. The Romish Church was born hundreds of years too late. There is not a trace of a Pope in Scripture, except in prophecy, referring to him as the man of sin and son of perdition, nor in any other writing for centuries after the founding of the true church. Nor is there a reference to a Roman Catholic. There really was not one in the world, much less a Romish Church. For the first three centuries there was no church but one, “the church of the living God,” in existence. All others have come into existence since then, and have not one spark of authority.

Does the reader say, “You are not in that church yourself?” We are not discussing that question; but if we are not in it the loss will be as great to us as to any one else not in it.

Speaking of this church, or building, Paul says: “I, as a wise master-builder, have laid the foundation, and other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” No man of any intelligence thinks there is but one kingdom of God, or but one body of [405] Christ. If we are in that we are in Christ, in the Father and in the Son. To be out of the one body, or one kingdom, is to be out of Christ, out of the Father and of the Son. There is no union with the Father and with the Son, only in the body or in the kingdom.

We have no time to pursue this matter at present, but can easily, when we have time, amplify and explain to any extent, showing that the principles now only briefly sketched, pervade the Scriptures throughout. It means something to be in the kingdom of God, as it does to be “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” “in Christ,” “in the Father and the Son.” It is to be in a state of justification, or acceptance with God.

WE have identified our fortune—our all—for this world and that which is to come, for time and eternity, with the Bible. It is the only revelation from God, the only guide for a sinful world. Christ, who is the only Light of the world, is seen and apprehended through the Bible, and in no other way. All claims to revelation, separate from the Bible, are mere empty pretences, idle and unfounded delusions and impostures, [406] deserving to be exposed and banished from the earth. They, as a general thing, are wicked and malicious inventions, aimed to subvert and thwart the merciful and benevolent purposes of the Bible. The Bible is the only book from God; the only book that can be defended; the only book upon which all the pure and holy can unite. Those who adhere to the Bible, are happy while they live, and happy in death. It is emphatically the book for man. We are for it, now and forever, and against all that is against it, or subversive of it, either directly or indirectly. We are for no half way work, no compromise nor equivocal ground. Let every man be for the Bible, or against it; on the Lord’s side, or against him; for christianity, or nothing; for heaven, or hell. We want no man who stands in doubt. If a man can not define his position, so that all can tell which side he is on, we have no use for him. We count no man whose position is doubtful. All men whose position is doubtful, are really on the enemy’s side, and would surrender any post we have, if the opportunity would offer. We are not to be gulled by these, nor induced to depend on them. We would greatly prefer that they would stand where they belong, so that all would know where to find them.

We have identified ourself with Bible men. Their cause is our cause, and their God is our God. Their work is our work. With them we are enlisted in a mighty effort to circulate the Bible as far among the nations of the earth as possible. We are proud to stand among the men of the Bible, to be enrolled with them, and in the enjoyment of their fellowship. The prospect before these is brighter now than ever before; their work is going on more triumphantly, and success is more certain, than at any former time.

[407]

SINCE this practice of praying for the baptism of the Spirit is continued with such pertinacity, we have concluded to make a few remarks upon it. For the sake of making our remarks the more easily apprehended, we will arrange them numerically, as follows:

First. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a miracle. It does not exist in our day, for miracles are not done now, not designed to be, nor of any use if done. Miracles can not be done but by the will of God, nor can they be suspended, but by his will. He did them when they were needed, and suspended them when they were not needed. No man can allege that miracles ought to have been continued in the church, without alleging that the all-wise God ought to have done what he has not done. This is absurd.

Second. The baptism of the Spirit was seen. Nothing of the kind occurs now that is seen. Therefore, there is now no baptism of the Spirit.

Third. The baptism of the Spirit was heard. Nothing of this kind is heard now. Therefore, there is no baptism of the Holy Spirit now. [408]

Fourth. Cloven, or divided tongues, like as of fire, sat upon those baptized with the Spirit. Nothing of this kind sat upon those claiming to have been baptized with the Holy Spirit now. Therefore, none have been baptized with the Holy Spirit in our day.

Fifth. Those baptized with the Holy Spirit, spoke with tongues. None claiming to be baptized with the Holy Spirit now, speak with tongues. Therefore, none now are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Sixth. Those baptized with the Holy Spirit prophesied. None claiming to be baptized with the Holy Spirit now prophesy. Therefore, none are baptized with the Holy Spirit, now.

Seventh. It is wrong to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, because it is a gift that does not belong to us. Simon, the sorcerer, asked for a gift that did not belong to him, on account of which the Apostle said, “Thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity,” and instructed him to “pray God, if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven him.”

Eighth. It is wrong to claim to have the baptism of the Spirit, because the claim is as false and delusive, as to claim to be an Apostle. It is as shallow, empty and unfounded as the claims of Mormons.

[409]

TO pour the wine, or divide it into several cups, before thanks, at the Lord’s table. We thank the Lord for the cup, and not cups. Thanks should invariably be given for the one cup, while the wine is in the one cup.

For some one to start and push his way out through the assembly while an invitation is pending. This is a most manifest impoliteness and disorder.

For some one that has eat about three dinners at once, to doze and nod in time of preaching, and in the midst of the exhortation, just when the preacher is trying to make an impression, to stretch his limbs, gape and crowd up to the pulpit, and get a drink to extinguish the fires burning within him. This is ridiculous.

To see some great strapping saphead get up in the middle of a discourse, and go stamping out, thus interrupting the whole audience. If these could see themselves as others see them, they would be very clear of showing themselves, as they frequently do.

To see a beautiful young lady sit in time of preaching, and then stand in time of an invitation, with her mouth spread and a broad and supercilious grin upon her face.

To see some fellow draw his watch and snap it at the preacher, as he shuts down the case, as much as to say, “I consider it is time you would stop.” [410]

To see a lady sit and play with her infant, in time of preaching, laugh at its little pranks, and try to induce others around her also to laugh at them.

To see a lady get into a quarrel with her babe, in time of preaching; slap it, jerk it, hold it, and thus keep it squalling for about half an hour. If the preacher can keep the thread of his discourse, in a case of that kind, he is a pretty good preacher.

To have some man standing near the preacher, in time of prayer, chewing an enormous quid of tobacco, and about once in half a minute, hear a large spoonful of the filthy spittle splash upon the floor.

CERTAINLY not, but one immersion “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” There is but one immersion commanded in Scripture; that one is in water, and “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Peter said, “Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?” Here the water is mentioned as the element in which they were to be immersed, and they had already been immersed in the Holy Spirit; and in the next verse we are informed that “he commanded them to be immersed in the name of the Lord.” The immersion in water, then, is the one commanded, and the only one. [411]

The immersion in Spirit is not commanded; and the command, if it existed, to be immersed in Spirit could not be obeyed. Suppose the Lord would command any one to be immersed in the Spirit, how would he obey? No man ever was commanded to be immersed in the Spirit, nor was any man ever commanded to immerse any one in the Spirit. Man can not immerse in the Spirit. The immersion in water is commanded, and is the immersion “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” “into Christ,” “into one body,” the initiatory rite into the New Institution. Immersion in the Holy Spirit never initiated any one into any institution or anything. It was never commanded. No man ever administered it. The Lord was the only administrator of the baptism of the Spirit. It was a promise. It was a miracle. It imparted miraculous power. It never occurred except on Pentecost, and at the house of Cornelius. On Pentecost the subjects of it were in Christ before it occurred, and at the house of Cornelius they were not in Christ after it occurred till they were immersed in water. In both instances they spake with tongues and prophesied.

When Paul wrote the letter to the church in Ephesus there remained but “one immersion,” the one of the last commission, connected with salvation, the remission of sin, or induction “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” This is Paul’s “one immersion.” It is not “one pouring,” “one sprinkling,” or “three immersions,” but “one immersion.” Three immersions has not one scrap [412] of authority in the commission or anywhere else. In the same sentence where the apostle has “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith,” he has “one immersion,” and it would be in no more direct violation of his language to talk of three bodies, three Spirits, three hopes, three faiths, than of “three immersions.” There is no method by which the language can be so tortured as to get three immersions out of the words, “immersing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Such a thing was never thought of till the dispute about the Trinity sprung up. This dispute originated it. There is not a trace of trine immersion till more than a hundred years after the apostles were gone; till the shallow nonsense of infant sin, infant regeneration, infant immersion and infant damnation were introduced. Here, and not in the Bible, the friends of trine immersion go to find it, and here they find it among those who taught that infants were guilty of original sin and liable to eternal damnation; that infants must be regenerated; that the stain of Adam’s sin must be washed away; that this can not be done except in baptism, to prepare them for heaven. They practiced no infant sprinkling, but infant immersion, and, in time, trine immersion, or immersed them three times. We think some of the Greeks do this to the present day.

[413]

IN reading the history of the church, one is overwhelmed to see how innovations have crept in and eat the vitals out of the church. At every period of the church, when there was any vitality in it, any spirituality or devotion to God, there has been a constant effort on the part of the enemy, through some well-meaning, but worldly minded professors of religion, to work things into the church, or to work something out of it, in the nature of the case calculated to corrupt and destroy it. We must be awake to these wily manœuverings and guard against them, or they will ruin the great work so well begun and so successfully carried on in our time. The insidious, wily and stealthy machinations of the Grecian and Gnostic philosophers, did an immense work in corrupting the primitive church. Many of these did this, too, with the best intentions in the world. They thought it would be a grand acquisition to the Christian religion, an accomplishment and refinement, to append to it philosophy, and require every preacher to be a philosopher. These were constantly edging into the pure religion of Christ their fine philosophical notions, pagan customs and ceremonies, and destroying the church whenever they did it. On the other hand, learned Judaizers were foisting Judaism into the church at [414] every opportunity. Between Judaizers on the one hand, and Gnostic philosophers on the other, they amalgamated Christianity, Judaism and Paganism, and made Romanism. It was easy to obtain the idea of infant membership from Judaism, the idea of image worship from Paganism, and the idea of one true church from Christianity, and thus incorporate a system with a membership based in the flesh, making all the infants members, without any regeneration, under pagan idolatry, in worshipping images, and at the same time, with the idea that they are the true church.

FOR fifty years, we, as christians, have stood on the Bible alone, as a rule of faith and practice. Till recently, no difficulty was experienced in reducing it to practice. For forty years after the effort was first made in this country, to return to original ground, to the apostolic faith and practice, and restore the ancient order of things; submit to the law of the Lord in all things; we found no difficulty of consequence. But on the other hand we realized our vantage ground, answered all the cavils of creed-mongers, fought our way through, built up churches on Christ, set them in order under the law of God, and thus were happy in the Lord. No people in this country have ever been as happy and prosperous. All worked well. We silenced all opposition. [415]

But more recently, subtle schemes are on foot to invent an excuse for something like the traditions of the elders among the Jews, substituted for the law of God, the unwritten traditions of Rome, that has assumed the place of the law of God, or the doctrines and commandments of men, in our time, embodied in human creeds. One man finds a “law of conscience,” another “a law of love,” another thinks we are not under law, but under grace, but does not notice that Paul’s law, that we are not under, is the law of Moses, and, that Paul’s grace, that we are under, embraces the “law of Christ;” the “perfect law of liberty,” the “law of the Spirit of life.” Another man finds a law of expediences, more extended than the Jewish Talmud, or the unwritten traditions of Rome. He soon has more opinions than faith, more expedients than commandments of God, more charity than law or gospel, more love for the pious unimmersed than for immersed believers, more charity than hope. His gospel consists largely of tuning-forks, note-books, hymn-books, choirs, organs, concerts, festivals, church fairs. He is great on themes not in the Bible; the unwritten word; the traditions of the fathers. These are dead weights on the body. They are enemies within, sensual, not having the Spirit. We must meet them with the same arguments that cut our way through sectarianism forty years ago.

We must rouse the spirit of the glorious pioneer men who fought the early battles, cleared away sectarian rubbish, built up churches all over the land and set them in order, and never stop till there is an end to all the subtleties and sophistries, and all the insidious devices [416] now subverting “the right way of the Lord” and spreading dissension among the children of God. We must stop all the loopholes being invented for the introduction of humanisms, and innovations of all sorts, put away from among us the corrupt, the enemies of the cause, and the worldly, and inculcate the pure teaching of the New Testament among all, and live nearer to it than ever.

We met all this twaddle about a printed hymn-book, a meeting-house, etc., not provided for by divine legislation, before we were in the Church one year, from sectarians, and answered and exploded it. Now we have men among us that talk of progress, learning and an advanced age, who have advanced back, and are trying to build an excuse of the same matters for human legislation. They want to supply the deficiency in the law of God by human law. With them there is no church government in the law of God, and, therefore, we must make one. After we have governed the churches by the law of God, fifty years, they have advanced to the discovery that there is no church government in the law of God. What do they propose? To make a church government. There is a shorter road than this to sectarianism, and one that will be much less trouble, and that is, to go back at once to some sect that has set aside the law of God, and made one of its own, and adopted it. They have made as good human laws as we can make, and better, for they are old and experienced hands, and we would be but new and bungling beginners. The efforts we have seen are mere abortions.

[417]

OUR heart is enlarged and our spirit is stirred within us, when we look at the great opening before us. The Lord has not raised us up, put into our hands such immense power, and made us such a great people, without an object. He has a great work for the Reformers of the nineteenth century. We, as a people, are set for the defence of the gospel. We occupy the only ground upon which man can stand and successfully do battle with unbelievers, with schismatics of every sort, and maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. We are the only people who occupy the proper ground for the evangelization and salvation of the world. We have cut ourselves loose from every thing but Christ. We present him to the world and defend him, both in his divinity and humanity, as the ineffably glorious person in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We believe in him, in all he ever said or did, in his religion, beginning, middle and ending, and nothing else. We will defend him and all he ever said and did. We will defend his word, his doctrine, the whole of it. Our work is not to defend our views, our doctrines, or ourselves, but to defend our Master and his doctrine. Our work is pre-eminently the following:

First. To convert the world to Christ, put men under him as their Leader, Savior and everlasting trust, to follow him for evermore. [418]

Second. To collect from Babylon—spiritual Babylon—the wandering, bewildered and confused children of God, bring them back to their one shepherd, one fold, and unite them in one body under Christ, their only living head, that their name may be one, that they may be one, as he and his Father are one.

Third. To defend the faith once delivered to the saints, maintain it and spread it throughout the world.

Fourth. To inculcate piety, humanity, works of righteousness—in one word, implicit submission to Jesus the Lord in all things.

This is our work, and this, the Lord being our helper, we will do. We are pledged to Jesus, the Christ, to do this, for his glory and our good, and, by the grace of God, we will do it. We are not our own; we are the Lord’s. The work we are in is not our own; it is the Lord’s. The Lord our Righteousness is our King. It is his will—his bidding that we do this work. He has commanded and the work must be done. Brethren, see to it that the armor is in order, that it is on, properly adjusted, and every man at his post. Keep your eyes upon our Commander-in-Chief. Whatever he requires do it. No matter where he calls you to go, go at his bidding. He will bring us off conquerors, and more than conquerors. Go not in your own strength, nor in your own name, and rely not upon your own wisdom. Go in the strength, in the name and wisdom of the Lord. “O, Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee!”

[419]

THE passage evidently has reference to common associating—in visits, ordinary, eating and the like. Such a man should not be in the church at all, to say nothing about communing. Christians should not visit and receive visits from such persons, or associate with them, but make them feel keenly the smart of being thus low and corrupt.

The remark of the apostle, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat,” is misapplied almost invariably every time it is quoted. It certainly has no reference to examining to determine whether a man is worthy to commune or not, for he says, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat.” The examination was to precede the eating, and not to decide whether he should eat or not. The matter of trouble among the Corinthians was not to determine who shall eat, but how to eat worthily. They were not to do this by coming together and eating a pagan feast, not discerning the Lord’s death and blood, by partaking of the loaf and wine, as the Lord appointed. [420]

It is not the work of the administrator to tell who are communicants, when administering, any more than he should tell who should sing, pray, or give thanks. The communion was delivered to the church, and we are communicants by virtue of being in the church. If any are walking disorderly they should be dealt with, and not allowed to continue in disorder, but forbidden to commune. The whole church should be kept in order and all worship, not at the Lord’s table only, but in all parts of the worship. The question is about who are members of the church, and not about who shall commune. All the members should commune, all christians, and there should be no others in the church.

EVERY preacher that becomes secularized, and ceases to employ his energies in behalf of the poor, of mercy, of righteousness, of God, is an immense loss to the world. There is no calculating or estimating the difference in the condition of the world, in the day of judgment, all growing out of the indolence or indifference of one man, though he might see that he was effecting but little in his operations. Let any man of reflection select a preacher of but humble abilities, who was operating zealously in the great cause of truth only twenty years ago, [421] and trace the effects which a finite being can clearly see have grown out of his labors, and he will be astonished to see how different the present state of society would have been, had he relaxed his energies. But, let his influence extend twenty years more, and where will be its boundaries? Let it extend one hundred years and who could compute it? But all this may be but a drop to the ocean of the vast train of influences that would all have been lost by one man failing to act his part. With this before us, is it strange that God should hold him highly accountable?

But this is not the worst case. Let a man of talent, influence and energy, fall from his station, and become an apostate and enemy, let the cause be made to bleed and suffer from his want of reputation, while he hurls back his javelins with all the malice and fury of the Prince of the bottomless pit; and then, compute the change made in the condition of the church and the world? No one, short of the Infinite Being Himself, can compute the vast number that will be seriously injured, in one century, by such a miserable being. Who, then, can tell the difference his conduct can make in the condition of the world, at the adjudication of all things? Let preachers, then, remember that they are laborers together, and that no one can be lost without an injury to all.

[422]

WE have, in our own mind, long since repudiated pulpits entirely, as a useless, and worse than useless appendage. No work done, that we know of, with the idea of usefulness, more completely misses its aim than that of erecting pulpits in which for men to stand to preach the gospel of Christ. We have, for a long time, utterly refused to go into many of the castles we find around the country. In many houses the preacher is hoisted high in a pulpit, from twenty to thirty feet from the nearest person to him, and many of his hearers fifty and sixty feet off. This is all as irrational as it can he. If there had been a special study how to defeat the preacher, no better method than this could have been invented.

In a large house, there should be a platform some fifteen feet square and sixteen inches high, with a small table, the height of a common table, for a Bible and hymn book, which the preacher could set in front of him, if he desire it, or if not, set back against the wall. There should also be a few chairs on or about the platform for speakers, where there are several, or for persons hard of hearing. The speaker can then advance forward near enough to the people to address them effectively, and they can see him from head to foot. The floor of the house should rise some twelve inches in twenty feet. If the house is [423] crowded, persons can then be seated all round the speaker, leaving him simply room to stand. There should be two brilliant lights back of him, near the wall, elevated a little above his head, and some ten feet apart, so as to shine down each side of him into the book before him. If the speaker desire to stand back near the wall, he can then do so; or if he prefers, as we certainly do, to stand on the front of the platform, he can have the privilege, and have room to walk about a little, which is both a relief to the speaker and audience.

If the house is small, the platform should not be more than ten feet square and eight inches high.

NEITHER Joseph Barker, nor any other man on the continent can give one good reason for his hatred of the Bible, or desire to ridicule it. Suppose it were all he says of it; superstition or what not; why is he so enraged at it? What is it that exasperates him so? What is it that puts such men to so much trouble? We suppose the stories of witches, ghosts, etc., the signs of the zodiac, the moon, etc., etc., are superstitions, but they do not trouble us, and we do not think it worth while to war upon them. Why do not modern sceptics put the Scriptures [424] down on the same list with these, give them the go-by, and be at no more trouble about them? Ah, why not? Simply because they can not. They have within them spirits that can not rest. The Bible is a book they can not let alone. It will not let them alone. It follows them by day, and thunders in their ears at night. It is before them when they rise up and when they lie down. It is before them in public and in private. It alarms them with the terrible announcement that the dead shall be raised, that the world shall be judged in righteousness, and that the Lord shall render to every man according as his work shall be. It annoys them with terrible threatenings, fearful punishments and righteous retributions. It follows them with the only impartial history the world ever had, spreading out alike the good and the bad, and showing up the entire history of man.

Why do they not let the Bible alone? If it is only a fable, a legend, or mere fiction, why trouble about it? “Let it alone!” says the sceptic, “how can I let it alone, when it constantly tells me of every sin I ever committed, describes even the thoughts of my heart, and exposes every wicked desire I ever had? I can not let a book alone that describes and publishes me to the world as a sinner.” What of all that, if you do not believe it? There is the trouble. The apprehension that it may be true, after all, hangs about men. They may rant, ridicule, defy, scoff and laugh, but the fearful apprehension still rises, thundering, “It may be true, after all.” There is no getting rid of the fearful apprehensions, the wonderful forebodings, the consciousness that all scepticism might be a mistake, after all. They know they have [425] nothing settled, nothing established, no fixed principles, no certain knowledge. They know that they are acquiring no substantial knowledge. Their work has not been to settle any thing, to fix any thing. They are drifting about, floating in an uncertain current, not knowing whither they are going. With them, all is in doubt, uncertainty, and obscurity. They are completely unsettled, wandering in the dark, and without a resting place. They are poor and miserable, blind and naked. They have no encouragement, no support, and no promise, and nothing to promise anybody else. Their pursuit is an empty chase, without any promise or hope. There is not a more vain and empty bubble in this world, than that pursued by these men. They are working without an object. They know not what they are aiming at. Their work is not to prove any thing, to settle any thing, or establish any thing; but to unsettle, confuse and throw into doubt. What have they done for the world? What do they propose to do for man? Nothing, only to pull down religion, do away with the church, and put the Bible out of the world! They appear to think that the principal thing now required to do, for the happiness of the world, is to rid it of all religion. But where is the evidence that they are doing any good? Where have they made the people happy? Where have they done any good? What good are they now doing? None under the shining sun.

[426]

WHAT is a miracle? A miracle is not, as Hume defined it, “something contrary to the laws of nature,” but something above the laws of nature, or something that the laws of nature, in their legitimate and ordinary operations, could not produce. For instance, the laws of nature, in their legitimate and ordinary operations, from parents, can produce offspring, and bring them to manhood and womanhood. But the laws of nature, in their legitimate course of operation, never produced a man and a woman, without parents, or never brought into existence a man and a woman, at sufficient maturity to care for themselves and live, without parents. No law of nature, in its legitimate and ordinary course of operation, brought Adam and Eve into existence, at maturity, and without parents. In other words, no law or laws of nature, in their legitimate and ordinary operation, ever began the human race. In the plainest terms, no law of nature ever produced a human being without parents. In other words, it is not a miracle for children to come from parents, but it was a miracle to create the first human pair. All who admit that the human race ever had a beginning, must admit that it began by miracle. It is not a miracle for an oak to produce an acorn, nor for an acorn to produce an oak; but it is a miracle to produce an [427] oak without an acorn, and equally a miracle to produce an acorn without an oak. The laws of nature, in the legitimate and ordinary course of their operation, never produced an acorn without an oak, or an oak without an acorn. The first acorn, or the first oak, was, unquestionably, a miracle. The first man was a miracle. The second man, the Lord from heaven, was a miracle. Isaac, the child of promise, and the only son of Abraham, as Jesus was the child of promise, and the only begotten of the Father, was a miracle. To sum all up, and express it in one sentence, everything,—every species of animal, insect and vegetable, began by miracle. The laws of nature create nothing, give us no new species or kind, but simply propagate and perpetuate that which was given by miracle at first. By the established laws of nature, the human race have been propagated and perpetuated, but the human race had its commencement in miracle.

The laws of nature never raised a man from the dead, instantaneously gave hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, or sight to the blind. No laws of nature can heal a leper in an instant, multiply “five loaves and a few small fishes,” till the amount will be sufficient to feed five thousand persons, leaving “twelve baskets full of fragments,” or enable men to speak in some fifteen or seventeen languages, never studied or learned in the ordinary way. A miracle may suspend laws of nature for the time being, do something above them, or something that they never perform; but to be a miracle at all, something must be done above all human art, device or ability, and something which we know the[428] laws of nature, in their legitimate course, and ordinary operation, never perform. When anything of this kind occurs, we know that it could not have taken place without foreign and direct interposition. This is a miracle; it is above and superior to all human art or device; above and superior to any thing ever done by the laws of nature, as well as different from anything they ever do.

WE heard an illusion to the fanciful idea that some have conceived of preaching an “affirmative gospel,” or, as some have expressed it, “preaching the gospel affirmatively,” or, as we suppose, to come a little nearer their idea, merely to preach, maintain and defend the truth affirmatively, and let the negative alone; or still, if possible, to be more fully understood, to preach truth and not preach against what is not truth; to preach what is to be done and not what is not to be done. Look at the following Psalm I.:

[429] These three items are negative—things that the man whom the Lord pronounces happy, does not. This is not leaving the negative part out, but inserting it first, and pronounces the man happy that does not these things.

In contrast, the Psalmist of Israel proceeds to give us the following, which is affirmative:

The Lord gives the following guarantee to those who do not say the negative part, but do the affirmative:

“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.”

What an awful contrast with this is the ungodly:

“The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregations of the righteous.”

To this the Lord adds the following conclusion:

“The Lord knows the way of the righteous,” or approves it, “but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

The negative is to be preached and taught in all that pertains to preaching and teaching as zealously and faithfully as the affirmative, and is to be regarded equally as much of divine authority. The first commandment the Lord ever gave to a human being was negative. It was in these words: “You may not eat of it.” This was negative—what must not be done. The Bible abounds with this negative teaching, setting forth what may not be done. Look at the following list, gathered from I. Cor. xiii. 4–8, setting forth affirmatively and negatively, or what love will and will not do. First look at the affirmative side, or what love will do: [430]

• 1. It suffers long.
• 2. It is kind.
• 3. It rejoices in the truth.
• 4. It bears all things.
• 5. It believes all things.
• 6. It hopes all things.
• 7. Endures all things.

This is the affirmative side, or what love will do; but the divine authority does not stop at that, but tells us what love will not do. See the following:

• 1. It is not envious.
• 2. Vaunts not itself.
• 3. Is not puffed up.
• 4. Does not behave itself unseemingly.
• 5. Seeks not her own.
• 6. Is not easily provoked.
• 7. Thinks no evil.
• 8. Rejoices not in iniquity.
• 9. Never fails.

The negative is longer than the affirmative in this enumeration.

The man with his affirmative gospel is like the man with his two oars, faith and works, to his skiff. He pulled one alone for a time, and run round and round one way, and then pulled the other, and run round and round the other way, and then seized both and pulled them at the same time, when his skiff moved straight ahead beautifully. We must take the whole of the divine teaching, the affirmative and negative; what we are to believe, and what we are not to believe; what we are to do, and what [431] we are not to do. We are to show not only what is truth, but what is not truth; what is of divine authority, but what is not of divine authority.

Had some of our affirmative gospel men been in the place of Paul, when he came to Athens, they would have made no attack on the altar with the inscription: “To the Unknown God,” but would have gone on with their affirmative gospel. Paul was not of that type of preacher, but brought their view of the unknown God into direct contrast with the revelation of the true God—the Jehovah. He admits that theirs was to them an “unknown God,”—“God who made the world, and all things therein”—“Lord of heaven and earth,” and who “dwells not in temples made with men’s hands,” and “is not worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needs anything, seeing that he gives to all life, and breath, and all things, and has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined before the times appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.”

Not content with this attack on their altar, and the inscription on it, he proceeds to quote and turn their own poets against them: “Certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’” Hear him as he proceeds, and see how he wades into their ignorance and superstition, and, above all, how utterly exclusive he is: “For as much then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” [432]

Now for the charitable part of his discourse: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” “The times of this ignorance” was before the gospel came, and the “now,” brought in contrast with it, is since the gospel has come. Seeing that the light has come, men are inexcusable to be in ignorance.

He proceeds to give a reason for the commandment, “to all men everywhere to repent,” in the following words: “Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.” But he knew that some man might call that in question, when he closed up with the following: “Whereof he has given assurance to all men in that he has raised him from the dead.” That is, he has given assurance to all men, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he has ordained. The logic runs thus: As he raised Christ from the dead, he will judge the world; and as he will judge the world, all men, everywhere, are commanded to repent, in view of the judgment.

The inscriptions to the unknown God must be set aside, with all the doctrines and commandments of men; the traditions of Jewish rabbis and Romish priests, with all the unauthorized lumber of Protestants, and the devotees to each and all of them, must be shown that they are unauthorized, and the man who shuns to do this, only does half work, or rather, only half does his work, and will be responsible to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls.

[433]

IT is claimed that whole households were baptized, and that these must have included infants; as, for instance, the following:

1. Lydia and her house. All that is said of Lydia is found in two verses, Acts xvi. 14, 15, and the passage contains not one word about an infant, or a child of any sort. It is stated that “she was baptized and her household.” But it is not stated that she was a married woman, that she had any children, much less that she had any infants; and, therefore, there is nothing here about any infant baptism.

2. The next household mentioned is that of the Jailor, Acts xvi. 33. “And they—Paul and Silas—spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his straightway. And when they had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house.” Here are two things stated of these that can not be said of infants. They spoke unto him—the Jailor—the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. The Jailor rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. Here it is asserted of the household that they rejoiced, believing in God. The word of the Lord was spoken to them, they rejoiced and believed in God. This can not be said of infants. [434]

3. The next case of a household, which we shall mention, is that of Cornelius, Acts xi. 14. Here, however, is conclusive evidence that there were no infants, for the angel said, “Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.” Infants are not told words whereby they are saved. Those who practice infant baptism do not tell them words whereby they may be saved, and do not believe they are saved in or by baptism.

4. There is but one other household mentioned in the New Testament, in connection with baptism. That is “the household of Stephanas.” I. Cor. i. 16. In the same letter we find one thing affirmed of this same household that can not be affirmed of infants. “They have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.” I. Cor. xvi. 15. This is a thing infants can not do.

There were, then, no infants in these households, and nothing particularly strange about that. The writer has baptized many households and never baptized an infant.

[435]

“THAT servant who knew his Lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” See Luke xii. 47. From this language there is no escape. If the men of whom we speak, say, they are not servants, then they will be condemned for refusing to be his servants. There can be no middle ground, no neutral ground. “He who is not for us is against us,” says the Lord. We are not simply to do some benevolent deeds favorable to the Lord, or to his cause, but we must be on his side, belong to him, be his; identified with him; one with him, so that his cause is our cause, and his will is our will. But to the mystery again: How can it be, that a man can love the Savior, his people and cause, so as to defend them, give his money to aid them, have confidence in them, and be pleased with their work; but decide to stand, in relation with their enemies, in the same state with them, and not in relation with the Lord and with his people; in the same state with them?

What a fearful thing it is to be against the Lord, and to encounter his terrible sentence: “Shall be beaten with many stripes.” Why should a man stand in such a condition a single day? We see not how a man could rest for an hour with such a responsibility on his soul! Why [436] should any man not be willing? nay, more, why should he not seek to place himself under the guidance of Him who is so wise that he can not err, and so good that he will do all things well? What a blessedness for man, that he can have infallible wisdom to guide him, and almighty power to save him! How can it be possible for any well disposed man to stand aloof from the Lord and from his divine arrangement for our happiness, and trust to his own wisdom and his own strength, when he could have the wisdom and power of God pledged for his security? Why not come to the Lord; let his kind hand lead, and his gracious providence guide in the way of life everlasting.

There were old men, too old to be on the muster roll, and boys too young, the history informs us, who fought in the battle of Bunker Hill, in the American Revolution. These received much praise for their good will to the cause and the service they rendered: but they did not belong to the army and received no pay. In the same way, we fear, many of these good friends that defend the cause and even pay their money to support it, will lose their reward, because they have never enlisted. They do not belong to the army.

Many such men have noble wives striving to serve the Lord, to train their children in the way of righteousness and bring them to God. These are dearer to them than life. Can they stand out in the ranks of the enemy, and see their companions who gave them their hearts and hands in their better days, struggling to save their precious children, and not stand by their side, aiding and encouraging them? What a responsibility there is here! They know their Lord’s will, and do it not and will be beaten with many stripes! [437]

The Lord suffered and died for these. He hung on the ignominious cross for them, as well as for us all, and poured out his warm heart’s-blood to cleanse them from sin. All this appeals to them. All the exhortations of saints, their prayers, songs, tears and solicitudes appeal to them, by all the tender mercies of God and the infinite compassion, to come to the Savior and live. If they resist all this, turn their ear away from it, and, in the midst of all these entreaties, go down to ruin, what an everlasting source of regret it will be to look back and see what was done for them, but all in vain! “Turn you, turn you,” says the prophet, “and live.” “You would not come to me that you might have life,” says the Lord. “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” “The Spirit says, Come, and the bride says, Come, and whoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”

[438]

IT is admitted on all hands, by all Protestants, that we should receive nothing more than is contained in the Holy Scriptures.

It is also admitted, that we should receive nothing less than is contained in the Scriptures.

It is admitted, that the Holy Scriptures must not be altered, but must be received precisely as God gave them to the world.

It is acknowledged that the Christian Scriptures constitute a “perfect law of liberty.”

All acknowledge that this perfect law of liberty was given by the infallible wisdom of God, and by his undeniable authority.

Now, the precise opposite of this is true of every human creed on earth. For instance, it is admitted—

That we may receive more than is contained in any human creed in the world.

It is admitted, that we may receive less, or that we are not bound to receive everything in any one of them.

It is universally admitted that they may be altered and amended.

It is admitted, that no creed but the Bible, constitutes a “perfect law of liberty,” hence, those who use other creeds are frequently altering or amending them.

It is admitted, that no creed but the Bible, was given by the infallible wisdom of God.

[439] These are undeniable truths, admitted by all Protestants, as must be seen by the most common observer. Now we ask any man in his right mind, how it can be, that it is safe to receive a creed, not containing all that a christian is bound to receive, containing also some things that may be rejected, one that may be altered, one admitted not to be a “perfect law,” and one not given by the wisdom and authority of God; and yet unsafe, to receive as our only creed that Book, containing all that a Christian dare receive, no less than he must receive, one that dare not be altered, that is “the perfect law of liberty,” and was given by the wisdom and authority of God?

THE Apostle Paul says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Christ.” Why glory in the cross?—or, why not glory in his miracles, in his feeding five thousand, his calming the sea, raising the dead, opening the eyes of the blind, or giving hearing to the deaf?—or, why not glory in his own resurrection, his ascension, coronation, and being crowned Lord of all? Because it was not at any of these points Peter denied him; it was not here that he was condemned; it was not here that he suffered—that he was put to shame—that he was [440] mocked, derided and despised. But Paul looks at him when he was on trial, when Peter denied him, when he was condemned; when he was delivered into the hands of enemies, despised and degraded; when he was nailed to the cross, crowned with thorns, and buffeted; when all his friends had forsaken him; when all the angels had withdrawn, and the Almighty Father had turned his face away—had forsaken him—and he was in his blood—in the agonies of death, with the sins of the world upon him; we say, Paul looked upon him here, and gloried in him. It was not the cross that he gloried in, literally. The expression is metonymical. The cross stands for Him who hung upon the cross. “God forbid that I should glory, save in him who hung upon the cross.” We are not to glory in men; neither in Paul, Apollos, nor Cephas, but in Christ.

IN precisely the same way, the appointment in the case of Naaman, in itself, had no virtue to cure leprosy. If another leper had gone to the place the next day, and dipped himself, he would not have been healed. Naaman did not go home praising the waters of Jordan, nor exulting in his dipping, nor his faith, but he said: “Behold, now I know that there [441] is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.” II. Kings v. 15. The Lord purposely selected an appointment that had not in it, in itself, any curative efficacy, that the man might know the cure came directly from God, and might believe and put his trust in the God of Israel. The same is true of the appointment for the Israelites, bitten of the fiery serpent. The Lord wisely selected something that all men would know had no efficacy, in itself, to heal the bite of the serpent, that the glory might be given to God and not to the brazen serpent. It is no question about whether the Lord could have saved the Israelites in some other way. No one doubts that he could. But the question, in this case, is simply about what he did. The people did not heal themselves. Their faith did not heal them. Their prayers did not heal them. Their looking did not heal them. The brazen serpent did not heal them. God healed them. When did he do it? When they obeyed him. Where did he do it? In his own appointment.

The faith of the army of Joshua did not throw down the walls of Jericho. There is nothing in faith, in itself, to do a work of this kind. The marching round Jericho, did not throw down the walls, nor have any tendency to throw them down, if they had continued to march round till this time. The blowing of the trumpet did not throw down the walls. Nor did the shout of the army. God broke down these massive walls. When did he do it? When they obeyed him. Where did he do it? In his appointment. The work was just as much of God, as divine and miraculous, done in this appointment, as if it had been done without any appointment at all. The appointment was precisely such an one, as [442] to direct the heart of the people to God, as the author of the victory. But had they refused to march round the walls, shout and blow the trumpet, though they might have prayed till now, the Lord would not have answered them nor saved them. In all these cases, they might have prayed for saving power till they breathed the last breath, and no saving power would have come. The saving power was promised, but promised in certain appointments—not because the Lord could not, but because he would not save in any other way, only as he had appointed.

The same is true of saving men in our time. We have no dispute about what the Lord can do. The only question we have is about what the Lord will do. The Lord will do precisely what he has promised, and no man in the world can produce one particle of evidence that he will do anything else, to save any man. If the Lord had said, “He that believeth and prays, and is prayed for, shall be saved,” every one that prays and is prayed for, would be saved. But such, it is admitted on all hands, is not the fact. Many pray, and are prayed for, who, it is admitted, are not saved or pardoned. The Lord’s appointment is, “He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved. Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Why tarriest thou? arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Here is the Lord’s appointment, and he who comes here, has the promise of the Lord that he shall be saved, or pardoned. This appointment is like those we have been looking at. It is evident [443] to all, there is no virtue or merit in faith, in itself, to save a man. It is equally evident that there is no merit or virtue in repentance, in itself, to save any one. It must be equally evident to all, that there can be no virtue, merit, or efficacy in baptism, in itself, to save or pardon. It is God that pardons. Who does he pardon? Those who obey him. When does he pardon them? When they obey from the heart, that form of doctrine delivered to them. “Being then made free from sin, they have their fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.” Where does he pardon them? In his appointments.

REFERRING to the position of the disciples on the action of baptism, a correspondent says: “That, in regard to the sacrament of baptism, the whole christian world have been in the dark, from the earliest history of the church until within three hundred years, and much the greater part are still behind!” He adds, “Not deceived, be it remembered, about some things not essential to the ordinance, but in regard to the very nature of it. And what is yet more singular, denominations possessing much the greater share of learning are most in the dark!” He proceeds, “Nay, even the christian fathers, who were, some of them, Greeks, and men of learning, and who certainly should have known something about their own language, were in serious error upon this very subject!” [444]

All this is said, by our worthy friend, in reference to our position, that nothing but immersion is baptism. It contains several items, and to give them all possible conspicuity we notice them separately.

First. His first trouble is about the whole christian world being in the dark, if our position is true. This expression, “the whole christian world,” must be simmered down a little. We strike out of it, then, all the christians of the first two centuries, as not in the dark, for they held and practiced nothing but immersion for baptism. This is sufficient, if we could say no more. But we add to this all Baptists of modern times, who have not been in the dark on this point. No fact is better authenticated than that for the first thirteen centuries immersion was invariably practiced by all professed christians, except, after the third century, in cases of extreme weakness, where they thought immersion could not be endured, they decided that affusion would do; but these could never hold office in the church. Even the Episcopalian church, in the time of Mr. Wesley, almost invariably immersed. Now sum up all these, and then decide how large the number in the dark, and you will find that the sprinklers are a mere drop in the bucket.

Second. The above shows that they have not possessed much the greater share of learning, but much the smaller share of learning.

Third. The christian fathers, so called, are not to be entered in that list. They were on the other side, and practiced immersion and nothing else. The remark of the Cyprian shows that he is defending [445] something new and in doubt; hence his remark that “it is of equal validity with the laver of salvation.” There was no doubt about what he calls “the laver of salvation,” but there was doubt about sprinkling. The one needed argument and the perversion of the passage in Ezekiel to support it; the other was universally acknowledged.

We admit that the evidence is abundant “that pouring and sprinkling were used” from the beginning of the fourth century not only to the rise of the Anabaptists, but till now; but that pouring and sprinkling were held in doubt, in general, and utterly repudiated by many, is equally abundantly proved. The discovery that baptizo means immerse, and nothing else, could not have been made by any of the fathers, for at that time no one denied that such was its meaning. In the few instances where sprinkling or pouring was used, it was not on the ground that baptizo meant pour or sprinkle, but on the ground that pouring or sprinkling would do in extreme cases of weakness where they deemed the persons unable to endure immersion. No man can produce one scrap of authority to show that any man at that early period, or for many long centuries after, ever attempted to defend pouring or sprinkling on the ground that baptizo meant pour or sprinkle. Those who practiced sprinkling or pouring generally in the early ages, did not think they were doing what the Lord commanded, or what the apostles practiced, but something else that would do. Luther, Calvin, Wesley and Clarke, admitted that the ancient practice was immersion, but they thought sprinkling or pouring would do. This was the ground of [446] argument for many long centuries. The idea of trying to prove that any person was ever sprinkled or poured upon, for baptism, in the time of the apostles, is a mere modern invention, and the idea that baptizo means sprinkle or pour, is of equal modern date. These are new grounds altogether, taken by modern men, who have been driven from the old ground. It will not do in our time to admit—as all the ancients did—that the apostles immersed—that immersion was the ancient practice—that baptizo means immerse, and nothing else, but that “this rite has been changed somewhat,” and that something else will do as well. This is too barefaced for our time, and the opposition have changed their ground, and are now trying to make us believe that their practice is sustained by the meaning of baptizo and the ancient practice.

DURING our discussion in Decatur, Ill., we presented the following, substantially, as the “Shorter Catechism” for Universalians to test their pretences to a belief in the Scriptures:

1. Phil. iii. 18, 19, Paul, speaking of the enemies of the cross of Christ, says, “Whose end is destruction.” Can a man of sense believe that the end of a man is destruction, and at the same time believe that his salvation? The end of a man will certainly be his last state, and if that is destruction, his end can not be salvation. [447]

2. Mark iii. 29, the Lord says, he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, “hath never forgiveness.” Can a man of sense believe that a man who “hath never forgiveness,” shall be saved? To save a man without forgiveness, would be to save him in his sins.

3. John iii. 36, the Lord says, “He that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Can a man of sense believe that those who believe not the Son, shall not see life, and yet believe that they shall see life?

4. Rev. xxii. 19, the Scriptures say of certain persons, that “God shall take away their part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Can a man of sense believe that a man whose “part is taken out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book,” can be saved?

5. Heb. xii. 15, the Scriptures speak of men “failing of the grace of God.” Can a man of sense believe that men may “fail of the grace of God,” and be saved? What! saved without the grace of God?

6. John viii. 21, the Lord said to certain persons, “Ye shall die in your sins; whither I go ye can not come.” Can a sensible man believe that men shall “die in their sins,” and that whither the Lord went they could not come, and still believe that all will be saved? Do not refer to what the Lord said to his disciples, for he said more than this to them. He said to his disciples, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me [448] now; but thou shalt follow me afterward.” John xiii. 36. This he did not say to the Jews. But he did say to the Jews, “Ye shalt die in your sins: whither I go ye can not come.” Is that true? It is. Then Universalism is not true.

7. Heb. x. 26, 27, Paul says, “If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Can men of sense believe that a man for whom “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,” but for whom their remains “a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries,” will be saved?

8. John v. 29, the Lord declares that “they who have done evil shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation.” Can a man of sense believe that those who have done evil can “come forth to the resurrection of damnation,” and yet all men be saved?

9. Rev. xx. 13–15, we find an account of the dead standing before God and being “judged every man according to their works,” and the declaration is made that “whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire.” Can a man of sense believe that the dead shall be raised and judged according to their works, and the wicked, or those whose names are not written in the book of life, shall be cast into the lake of fire, and yet all men be saved?

10. Gal. v. 2, Paul testifies to certain men, “Christ shall profit you nothing.” Can a man of sense believe that those shall be saved whom Christ shall profit nothing? [449]

11. Heb. vi., Paul declares of certain persons, that it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. Can a man of sense believe that those can be saved whom it is impossible to renew again to repentance?

12. Heb. ix. 27, Paul says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Can a man of sense believe that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” and not believe that God will judge men after death?

13. Luke xvi. 22, 23, we read of a “certain rich man,” that “the rich man died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.” Can a man of sense believe that a man after he died and was buried, was “in torments,” and believe that there are no torments after death?

14. Matt. xxv., the Lord says of the wicked, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.” Be it observed, these righteous are in the life of a christian already, or before they go into life eternal, and the wicked are in all the hell there is for them in this world already. But here at the time the righteous enter eternal life, the wicked enter everlasting punishment. The same Greek word aionion, in the same sentence, expresses the duration of the life of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. Can a man of sense believe that the Lord used aionion in a limited sense in one place and an unlimited sense in the other?

15. Luke xiii. 23, we are informed that a man inquired of our Lord, “Are there few that be saved?” The Lord did not answer his silly question, but said to him, “Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able.” [450] Can a man of sense believe this statement, that they shall not be able to enter, and still believe that all shall enter? Do not begin to think of entering the church here now, for we know that all who seek to enter the church are able.

16. Ez. xiii. 22, the Lord says, “With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” Can a man of sense believe that he strengthens the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life, and still believe that he is doing good in preaching that all men shall have life?

When our Universalist friends get so that they can answer these questions and explain the difficulties involved clearly and satisfactorily, the people may become satisfied that they are not sceptics.

[451]

Remarks upon a communication complaining of the increasing prevalence of revelry, under the plea of “innocent amusements.” Published in the A. C. Review, for July, 1860.

WE have no doubt that many professors of religion are greatly sinning, as well as disgracing and dishonoring their profession, in the manner above described. But there is one trouble in writing or publishing any thing for that class. They are beyond the reach of writers. They subscribe for no religious publications, pay for none, and read none. They read nothing, unless it be some silly love tale, book of fashion, or mere novel. They can only be reached at all through older, wiser, and better heads, and then only occasionally, and but slightly. In most instances, the slightest reference to their inconsistent lives of folly and vanity, is regarded as a mortal offence. We were threatened, not long since, with being held personally responsible for alluding to the mischief done by dancing masters, in a public discourse. It turned out that one was present, and, as if to publish himself as a live dancing master, distinguish himself and render himself as notorious as possible, immediately after the allusion to men of his calling, he cast his eye around the house, and saw all eyes upon him, when he bounced from his seat and went stamping out of the house, as if he intended [452] trying the strength of the floor, every time he set down his foot. His profession was too sacred to be alluded to without his being insulted. Some of the people, we learned, called him Professor——! Talk of preaching for such men! of writing to reform them! They would not hear an angel from heaven, unless he would wink at their dancing. They would not hear one who would rise from the dead, unless he would wink at their sin. If they could, they would lead our fair daughters to ruin, chuckle over the feat achieved, and dance on the graves of heart-broken fathers and mothers. They are leeches upon society, sucking the very life’s blood from the veins of better people, who suffer themselves to be gulled by them, and, at the same time, grinning like a weasel while cutting the throat of a chicken, and sucking its blood.

The entire clan of amusement manufacturers, from the poor music grinder on the street, up to Barnum, are pulling down, discouraging and destroying the good built up by the hard toiling and struggles of good people. It is useless to talk of their being gentlemen, polite, or moral; their work is to pull down, to ruin, to destroy, and to sink men and women in hell. Their work is against every prayer, every exhortation and sermon; every Sunday school, church and gospel mission. We may preach and pray, toil and struggle in tears, with our hearts aching and bleeding, trying to save men, and so long as we countenance worthless and silly amusements, we shall not be successful in saving men. Not only so, but if we allow those who are determined to run their length in all these amusements, to hang upon us, they will sink us all.

[453]

THE preacher’s life should be one of activity and industry, one of enterprise and diligence. The preacher can not be a gentleman of leisure. This is not his profession. He can not afford an hour or two every morning in primping, turning himself first this way and then that before a glass, smoothing down his hair, stroking his mustache and fitting on his attire. He can not afford another half-hour sucking an enormous cigar and filling a filthy spittoon, a thing that ought to be tolerated in no parlor, or genteel society. He should be a man of no idle habits, such as lounging upon cushions, loafing on the streets, at the corners, in shops, stores or places of business, or idleness. He should rise early, unless prevented from getting to rest sufficiently early, by preaching at night, dress himself out and out for the day in fifteen minutes, and spend at least five hours in his books. This should be a regular work, an every day work. Five hours only brings him to about ten o’clock in the morning, about the proper time to see sick persons, the poor, or any whom it may be his duty to visit. Three hours can now be devoted in this way. This brings him to one o’clock. Allow him two hours to take refreshment and rest himself. Now it is three o’clock, a good hour for him again to be among the people, where he may frequently spend two hours profitably. [454]

If the preacher is a man of enterprise, he can have an engagement for a sermon, a lecture, a meeting for prayer, or something of the kind almost every night, either in the church, or some place in a short distance in the community, where he may be waking up some interest among the people. It is the business of the preacher to seek an opportunity for something of this kind, and have some work all the time going on round him, arresting the attention of the people, rousing them from their slumbers, setting them to thinking and working.

It is useless to stand and preach in one pulpit and wait for the people to come there, thus depending upon that wholly for saving men. We must go beyond that, find every nook and corner where a few people can be collected and preach the word to them, exhort them, persuade them and plead with them to turn to the Lord. The preacher must make it an every day work to preach. We must get in the way of preaching from house to house and from place to place, thus filling the whole land with the doctrine of the cross. We must be men of activity, perseverance and zeal, not waiting for “calls,” but penetrating the land from its center to its circumference. We must go into the field and do the work of the Lord, and the Lord will open the way and take care of us. We are anxious to see an army of zealous, powerful and enterprising young men, willing to go out into the world and convince the world of their ability and usefulness, by saving men, building up churches and extending the cause. In this way, they will soon make an opening for themselves and secure a permanent field of operation. How much more [455] noble and manly this, than looking round for a rich church, raised up to hand by the labors of other men, where a young man can sit down with a fat salary and merely live upon the labors of those who have gone before him.

IT is a fact that our Lord was baptized of John in Jordan. Is it then more probable that he was sprinkled of John in Jordan, than that he was immersed of John in Jordan?

It is a fact that after the Lord was baptized “he went up straightway out of the water.” Is it more probable that “he went up straightway out of the water,” in going from sprinkling, than from immersion?

It is a fact that the people were baptized of John in the river of Jordan. Is it more probable that they were sprinkled of John, in the river of Jordan, than that they were immersed in the river of Jordan?

It is a fact that “John was baptizing in Enon, near Salim, because there was much water there.” Is it more probable that he sprinkled in a place, because there was much water there, than that he immersed in a place because there was much water there? [456]

It is a fact that Philip and the eunuch, both went down into the water, and he baptized him. Is it more probable that they both went down into the water to sprinkle, than that they both went down into the water to immerse?

It is a fact, mentioned by Paul, as a result of baptizing, that the body is washed. Is it more probable that the body is washed in sprinkling, than that the body is washed in immersing?

It is a fact, stated by Paul, that “we are buried with him in baptism.” Is it more probable that we are buried with him in sprinkling, than that we are buried with him in immersion?

It is a fact, stated by Paul, that we are buried with him by baptism. Is it more probable that we are buried with him by sprinkling, than that we are buried with him by immersion?

We have now presented eight questions on the probabilities of the case. Now for the possibilities of the case:

It is a fact that the Lord was baptized in Jordan, and it is a fact that he went up straightway out of the water. This shows that when he was in Jordan, he was in the water, or he could not have gone “out of the water.” As a question of fact and possibility, could the Lord have been sprinkled in the water?

It is a fact, stated by Paul, that in baptizing, or, as a result of it, the “body is washed.” As a question of possibility, can the body be washed, or, as a question of fact, is the body washed at all, when sprinkling is performed in the usual way?

It is a fact, stated by the Apostles, that “we are buried with him in baptism.” As a question of fact, is this done in sprinkling? As a question of possibility, can persons be buried in sprinkling? [457]

It is a fact, stated in Scripture, that “we are buried with him by baptism.” As a question of fact, are persons buried by sprinkling? As a question of possibility, can persons be buried by sprinkling?

SOME years ago, our Bro. Burnet resided some eight miles in the country. We were in Mt. Healthy, a short distance from his residence, and took an omnibus for the city. In a few minutes the omnibus stopped in front of the residence of Bro. Burnet, with two respectable looking gentlemen in it, one sitting facing the residence and the other with his back towards it. The one facing the residence said, “Here is where Mr. Burnet resides.” The other replied, “Who is he?” “A celebrated Campbellite preacher,” was the answer. “What do the Campbellites hold?” inquired the other. “That the Bible is their foundation—their only creed,” was the reply. “They have a mighty good foundation—a very good creed,” answered the other. “Yes,” was the reply; and here the conversation ended. The same must be the response of every honest believer in the Bible. It is certainly a good foundation—a good creed. If there is any good doctrine, or teaching, as the word doctrine [458] means, in the world, it is in the Bible, and the man who takes the Bible, finds it in his book. If there is any sure foundation for all our hopes beyond this life, it is found in the Bible. If there is any sure lamp to the path of weary and dying pilgrims in this world, it is the Bible. All other books are nothing compared with the Bible. It is the book of all books, the authority of all authorities, the only sure and infallible guide from this world of sin to the land of rest.

THE Lord said once to a preacher, “Simon, lovest thou me more than these?” This question has been variously expounded. It has had at least the following three interpretations given to it:

1. The Archbishop of Cincinnati had the honor—if it be any—of giving the people the first of these, in the debate with Mr. Campbell. He thinks the Lord meant, “Simon, lovest thou me more than these other [459] disciples love me?” He thinks Peter did love his Lord more than the other disciples did, and this is one of his mighty arguments to prove that Peter was the first Pope. But how Peter could answer such a question as that, unless, indeed, he was already the Pope, and infallible, we can not conceive. Certainly the Lord did not expect Peter to know whether he loved his Master better than the other disciples loved him, unless he was infallible. The Lord himself could have answered that question, but certainly no man could. Such a question was not only, in the very nature of the case, one that no man could answer, but one that could have no practical bearing nor use. Not only so, but the answer of the Lord was inappropriate, if he had intended Peter to be Pope. He commanded him, “Feed my sheep.” This was the last thing he would have commanded him if he had intended him to be Pope. In that case he would have commanded him, “Fleece my sheep,” and not “feed my sheep.” The business of Popes has ever been to fleece the sheep, and not to feed them.

2. The question, “Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these other disciples?” though Peter might have been able to answer it, would certainly have been one of but little importance. Not only so, but the language is scarcely capable of this import, and, therefore, it is not probable that such was the intention of it.

3. The sum of the question was, “Lovest thou me more than these fisheries?” Or, to express it more fully and liberally, “Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these fisheries?” The state of the case was, that the Lord had called them to be preachers. They had from the beginning [460] been under a mistaken notion. Their idea was, that Jesus was to be a king in an earthly kingdom. This, they supposed, would all take place in his lifetime, on this earth. It never entered into their minds that Jesus would die before his reign commenced. It specially never entered into their minds that he would die by crucifixion. When he was crucified and actually dead, they thought he was defeated, that his enemies had triumphed, that all was lost and their mission at an end. In this view, Simon Peter said, “I go a fishing.” Another disciple replied, “I go along.” This was utterly giving all up for lost. Poor men; like most preachers, who quit their proper work of preaching the gospel, and turn aside to some secular avocation, they did not prosper. “They toiled all night and caught nothing.” What a caution to preachers who turn aside from their work! The Lord appears to them and inquires of them, “Children, have you any meat?” They reply, “We have none.” He commands them, “Cast your net on the right side of the ship.” They cast the net and take the most astonishing draught of fish they ever saw. He caused their business to prosper beyond anything they had ever experienced. Their prospects in this avocation were now brighter than ever before. They are now in the midst of an excitement of prosperity, intensely engaged with their nets and fish. Every thing is purposely made as attractive and fascinating as it can be. While it is all before their eyes, in its most exciting, fascinating and attractive form, the Lord tries them, puts them to the test: “Lovest thou me more than these?” probably at the same moment, pointing his finger to the nets and fish. Peter replied, “Lord thou knowest that I love thee.” The [461] Lord commands, “Feed my sheep.” That is, “If you love me more than these fisheries,” and are willing to forsake these and do my work, “Feed my sheep.” This question, “Lovest thou me more than these?” is one of so much importance that it is repeated three times over, and the Lord says to them, “I will make you fishers of men.” This remark he had made to them when he first called them from their fisheries. After this last charge, “Feed my sheep,” “Feed my lambs,” we have no account of their ever fishing any more.

We find that there are many preachers in our time to whom the Lord puts the question, “Lovest thou me more than these?” Not, however these fisheries, but these lands, cattle, horses, mules, bank stocks, railroad stocks, houses, barns, mills, shops, stores, offices, politics, wives, children, fathers or mothers. He is very exacting and speaks very decidedly. “If you love these more than me, you can not be my disciples.” This is most fearful language. What is the test? The test is simply this, if we love the Lord more than these, we will follow him and do his work. If we love the Lord less than these, we will forsake the Lord’s work and follow these. This is a matter that preaching brethren ought to put to their consciences. Can men who have the ability to preach Christ, who have tried it and know they can succeed, and whom the Lord has blessed in their efforts, turn from this great work to the pursuits of the world, at will, with impunity? We do not believe they can. It is a fearful thing for them to do so. We know men of great ability—men who can shake up society from its center to its circumference, if they will try, whose talents are measurably buried, or what is the same thing, devoted to the world. These will certainly give a most strict account.

[462]

EVERY sane man can and does believe and decide that he will do this, and that he will not do that, every day of his life. Hence our Lord, when he wept over Jerusalem, cried, “O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how oft would I have gathered your children as a hen gathers her brood, but ye would not.” In this view of the subject, the man of God could say, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” In the same spirit, the Lord says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.” To the same amount, the apostle Paul says, “To whomsoever you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are.” In the same Spirit, the New Testament closes, saying, “Whoever will, let him come.” This justifies the Lord in saying, “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This all being so, the Lord, in referring to the last judgment, refers to the wickedness of man, as the ground of their condemnation. He says, they who have done evil, shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation. They who do his commandments, shall enter by the gates into the city, and have a right to the tree of life. [463] The Lord says, “Because I have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Prov. i. 24–33. This, my friends, is the wisdom of God. It will stand when all human reasoning will go for nothing.

[464]

WE do not desire to prevent discussion and investigation, or to deprive brethren of great inventive genius from exercising their extraordinary powers, nor to deprive men of the pleasure of making discoveries; but we are not favorable to allowing every man the privilege of taking out a patent right for everything that may be new to him; because it may not only be old with others, but useless, or even an old and oft exploded error. What we need now is, not so much men to make discoveries and invent something new, as men to push the old, the well-tried, and that which is known to be valuable. We do not desire, on the one hand, to be everlastingly hearing some new thing, nor, on the other hand, prohibited from hearing any thing new. We do not desire to be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, nor to be never learning; but to have our eyes open to anything profitable, that may be advanced, and continue in the faithful practice of what we know. But the main work is to push the truth through the world which we already have. Nothing is more sickening and disgusting, than for some mere boys, who have hardly read a half-dozen volumes, to start out under a pretence of discovering new truth, “going on to [465] perfection,” explaining the inner and outer man, the inner light, inner consciousness, conscience, the will, new modes of revelation, the manner of the Spirit’s work, etc., etc. We have had a perfect surfeit of all this kind of thing.

We do not need proud and vain young men to invent something new and glorify themselves, but humble and devoted young men, who will be content to “preach the word,” “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints,” and persevere in pushing the gospel through the world. We have no faith in these young sap heads who are trying to render themselves famous by pointing out to the world the errors of Alexander Campbell. It is true that it is not absolutely impossible that even a very young man should discover some important new truth, or an old one, that had, for a time, been neglected and covered up, but it is not at all probable; and certain it is, that it is not the province of young men to spend a large share of their time in trying to present something new. We claim not to have comprehended all truth, so as to render it impossible for any thing more to be discovered; but the main work is to impress the truth we have upon the rising generation, and bring as many as possible under its influence. We want humble, working, and pious men, to spread the principles of the gospel through the world.

[466]

NO people can or ought to prosper that will not respect the wisdom of God as set forth in both the teaching and example of our Lord and his apostles. We can not make ourselves, as a great, rapidly increasing and prospering body, an exception to this rule. If we desire and intend to prosper in the great and good work of uniting saints, building up the church and saving men, we must confine ourselves strictly to the gospel—to the things of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ—determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified—to glory in nothing but the cross of Christ. Our mission, as a religious body, as a christian ministry, and as christian writers, is not of this world. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in the heavenly regions.” Our King commanded one of his men, when he drew a sword, and commencing battle with it, struck off the ear of the servant Malchus, to put up the sword, adding that they who take the sword shall perish by the sword. The apostle Paul fits out the christian soldier and equips him for his work. The following are the habiliments [467] for the warfare: The loins are to be girt about with truth, the breast-plate of righteousness is to be put on, the feet are to be shod with a preparation of the gospel. The shield of faith is to be taken, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Here is the christian armor—our preparation for war. There is nothing carnal about it—no preparation to war against flesh and blood. We must hold fast to this armor—the heavenly armor—and use it with skill, resorting to no other, and we shall see the tall sons of men in thousands fall before us and join the army.

PUBLIC men must be prudent, judicious and noble in their bearing, presenting the truth in the love of it. Men must not miscalculate their influence, their power, and time for presenting things. Preachers must know when and where things are to be said and done. Many men drive their audiences away, by their repulsive course, and think it the opposition of the people to the truth, that drives them away. We speak plainly on all the great issues between ourselves and the parties around us, in the pulpit, and yet seldom give offense, and never fail to have a good hearing from the parties around us, and seldom fail to [468] gain some of them to the truth. And, what is better, when they are gained, they are gained indeed—not by persuading them that there is but little difference between us, but by making them both see and feel the difference, and convincing them of the truth. Any thing short of this is of no account.

Some men are for using a little Jesuitism. They would preach on common ground matters till they draw their hearers on and gain their attention. But we have nothing to do with any such policy. There is a vast amount of the most important and plain truth in the gospel, that the parties around us know comparatively nothing about, and consequently have no objection to it. They will hear it and be pleased with it. The main matter is to develop fully and largely, in the simplest style possible, with heart and solicitude for the happiness and salvation of the people, the whole scheme of redemption from the beginning, as if the people knew nothing at all about it. This must be done with power, and not in a prosing, indifferent and unfeeling manner. It will find way to honest hearts, in almost any community in this country.

[469]

WE have done a noble work, and that work is not to be foiled, defeated and destroyed by men who know not our Master and love not his cause. We have been raised up by the Lord to be a mighty community. God has a mission for us, a great mission, and we are not to be defeated in it. That mission must be done. The Lord has put into our hands facilities for doing this great work, and he requires it at our hands. That work is simply to restore his own pure religion to the people of this generation, and build up the church as it was at the beginning. We have ascertained that the Lord laid but one foundation, reared but one building upon it, had but one temple, one body, one family, but one church. This one body had but one head, but one leader, and we are to keep our eye on him, follow him, love him and serve him for ever. We can not turn aside to the strifes of the world, from our legitimate work. We have preached union among the children of God, struggled for it and prayed for it long and ardently, and we now appreciate its value more than ever, since we feel its power and influence in time of trouble. An influence that can bind us in one body, in one fellowship, in the midst of such commotions and excitements, is not of [470] this world. It is not an earthly influence, but above the earth. It is from God. We know each other as the children of God, the disciples of Christ, as christians, and not as political partisans. We know not a man because he belongs to this political party, or that; not because he lives on the one side of a geographical line, or the other; not because he holds to this political creed or that; but we know him because he is a child of God, an heir of the same inheritance, and redeemed by the same blood of the Covenant. The bond that binds us together is not an earthly bond, and it is not limited by time. It is the love of God. It is not limited to this world, but shall last co-existent with the years of God. It shall live and be fresh and vigorous when all worldly schemes and policies and their advocates, shall be forgotten. Those who enjoy it shall also live beyond all the turmoil of political strife, beyond all the struggles and trials that beset our faith in this life. May we not live in vain, but do good in our day and generation. Mercy and peace upon the Israel of God.

[471]

THE Lord calls to his people wherever they may be scattered in Babylon, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.” We live emphatically in the time for extending this cry, and we must extend it. The warning to those in danger, is a most righteous and benevolent warning, and those who hear it shall praise God forever, that it has reached their hearts, and induced them to abandon the devoted city. There is no escape for one soul, only by fleeing to the Lord, and that can only be done by abandoning all human laws, and adhering to the law of the Lord. “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven; whose voice then shook the earth; but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things that can not be shaken, may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which can not be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly [472] fear.” Thanks to Heaven, there is a kingdom that can not be moved. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but, he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.” “He,” says the Lord, “who hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man.” “He who hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, I will liken him to a foolish man.” Our work is to try and call the attention of all nations to the sayings of our Lord, and induce them to hear him. They must hear him, or be lost for ever.

Come out of Babylon, O you saints of the Lord, wherever you are, and commit yourselves to the hands of the Lord. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.” Hear the holy John describe her destruction: “A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.” “After these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia: Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord, our God; for true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again, they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped him that sat upon the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia! [473] And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready.”

Wonderful things are before us, and let us be in readiness for their approach. When Paul was leaving the disciples, expecting to meet them no more in the flesh, he said, “I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.” This same word, another Apostle says, is able to save your souls, and the Lord says, “The words which I speak to you shall judge you in the last day.” His word lives and abides forever and ever. If we were making our dying request, and that to the dearest friends we have on earth, we would request them to abandon all human authorities and hold on to the word of the Lord for ever.

[474]

THERE is no telling the evils that have arisen in some old congregations, from preachers assuming that their audiences knew all about what are usually called first principles, and not preaching them. In this way, they never get their audiences to understand the principles of the gospel at all. They preach to their half-sleeping audiences, not hearers, some little, exhortatory sermon, of twenty-five or thirty minutes, and not a syllable is recollected two days. The people are thankful that the sermon was short, and the preacher thankful that “service” is over. In this way the gospel has literally been shut out of some churches, and year after year passes without any thing like a clear development of the gospel, and neither the church nor the regular hearers understand the gospel, or know the difference between the gospel and something else. This also gives rise to textuary preaching and preaching a sermon “to develop a single thought.” We heard of one preacher who delivered a sermon on the text, “And there shall be no night there.” The wording was soft as a summer breeze and as harmless as a butterfly. Now, we must say that we abominate this as mere trash. We want good, sound, solid and manly preaching, containing principles and practical instruction, that will make an audience think and feel, and that to some purpose. [475] Let us advocate the cause, maintain and defend it, with zeal, earnestness and power. Unfold the great principles of the faith, spread them out and let the world see them, and see at the same time that we intend they shall prevail. The principles are self-evidently right, and there is no reason why any man should be ashamed of them, or afraid to advocate them. They can be carried through the world, and we have the men and ability, and, the Lord helping us, we shall spread them throughout the land.

WE must make an effort to bring out our young people. If they are brought into the church, and not employed any way, not induced to do anything, nor in any way made useful, one half of them will be led off into the world again. A bishop who understands this matter, will engage not simply the attention of the young, but their ability, whatever it may be, and bring it out. We fell in company with a bishop of this kind a few evenings since, on the cars, who informed us, if our memory is not at fault, that out of about forty male members in his congregation, in Illinois, all but some three took some part in the public worship, by way of reading, prayer, or exhortation. We have recently heard of [476] several churches of this sort. These can worship without a preacher, can “draw out an audience,” and will, in a short time, send out preachers. Bishops who thus bring forward their young men, are bishops indeed. They do not imagine that their work is to sing, pray, preach, break the loaf, rule, and do every thing, and that the duty of the audience is simply to obey them. It is the work of a Christian bishop to develop and bring out the talent in the congregation, and apply it to the work of the Lord. Here is where our preachers are to come from. The church must furnish the preachers of Christ. No other institution will ever do it. We need not look to our colleges to make preachers. They will never do it. We need the colleges as much as any of our brethren have ever thought; but not to make preachers, but to educate our young men who want to preach or do anything else.

[477]

HE must be earnest. Men who preach the gospel of Christ must be earnest. They must not trifle with the gospel and the souls of men. The theme is too vast, the responsibility too great and the issues too momentous to be treated in a careless, indifferent and prosing manner. The idea of a man speaking of questions of life and death, eternal happiness and eternal misery, the glories to be revealed at the appearing and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the terrible destruction that shall be the destiny to all who obey not the gospel, in a cold, dull and unfeeling manner, is preposterous. These are the most awful, momentous and sublime themes that ever dwelt upon the lips of men; and let him who speaks of them, remember that he is pleading in a case of life and death. Let him speak with earnestness, spirit and power.

He must be a man of perseverance. A man who can not preach a week without any success, and not become discouraged, had better go home. He is not the man. It is nothing strange to preach a dozen or fifteen discourses without success. Let him preach again. If he still has no success, let him humble himself before the Lord, in most fervent prayer, and make another effort. If he shall still fail in one place, [478] go to another, and try again. Remember Noah, who preached one hundred and twenty years, without an addition, and preach on and pray on. Trust in the Lord, and work on.

He must be a man that can not be discouraged. He must be determined that he will listen to no discouraging tales. When met by some faint-hearted, sickly, and half-believing brother, who doles out his story about the troubles among the brethren, the opposition to be encountered, and how “hard a place it is,” where he is operating, he must pay no attention to it, but rise above it, and bear it in mind that there are good and honest-hearted souls in every community, who will receive and obey the gospel, if it is faithfully presented. Keep these in your mind, preaching brother, and try to save them, and you will succeed in a vast majority of cases. Inspire your audience with courage and confidence, especially the brethren. Allow no whining, complaining, and saying, “We can’t do anything,” and believe nothing of the kind. You can do something, and you must tell the people so, and keep on till you do it. You must not work in doubt, but in strong confidence that you have the truth—that you are advocating the cause of righteousness—that God is in it, will be with you, never leave you nor forsake you—that you can, by the help of the Lord, make the cause prosper, and will do it.

[479]

IT is one thing for a man to say he is for the Bible, the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible, and it is quite another thing to learn and practice some of the first and clearest lessons of the Bible. The only authority there is in the Bible for preaching the gospel at all, requires that it be preached in all the world—to every creature. Yet, strange to say, the first thing many seem to think of, and the only thing, is the mere vicinity where they reside. They are frequently few, weak and uninfluential; can get no preacher to their vicinity; or if they do get one once in a great while, they entertain him with an account of their weakness and inability to pay, make him sacrifice more to preach for them than they all sacrifice to support him. In other words, if they ought to give him thirty dollars, by a hard stretch they raise fifteen dollars, and send him off fifteen dollars minus what he ought to have had. After thus disheartening him, breaking him down and starving him, or especially his wife and children, they comment upon the old adage, “charity begins at home.”

Declaim against foreign missions, and prepare to give the State Board twenty-five dollars if the Board will send them one hundred dollars worth of preaching. After they treat a preacher in this way a few times, he is compelled from absolute necessity to abandon them. Thus, [480] isolated, forsaken and helpless, they take no publications, know nothing of what is going on, pine away and die. This shows the utter fallacy of little, weak and helpless congregations keeping themselves isolated. They should act with their brethren, report themselves, be known in all their efforts, and send in their contributions, no matter how small. The ground of complaint here is, however, more on the part of preachers than any place else. In all our preaching, we should inculcate a missionary spirit, the importance of acting in harmony, unitedly and with energy in all our undertakings to evangelize the world.

MEN are talking of justification by faith alone; but the main trouble is, that they have no faith. They have no confidence in the gospel, the power of God. They have no confidence in preaching the cross of Christ, the power and wisdom of God. They have no confidence in preaching Christ to save the world. They never preach Christ with any animation—any spirit or power. They have deserted God’s ordained power to save men, and are dealing out their insipid theories of spiritual [481] influence, their views and philosophies, which have nothing in them to save, if they were all true. Preaching theories of the Word or of the Spirit, of the mode of the Divine existence, or of anything else, has no power to convert or save any one. All the preaching of Calvinism or Arminianism, of Trinitarianism or Unitarianism, of Necessity or Freedom, or all the other theories ever preached, whether true or false, never saved one soul of our poor fallen race. But the preaching of the gospel, preaching Christ, the cross of Christ, is the ordained work for the Christian ministry. This is unequivocally the power God has authorized them to exercise in saving sinners. We know it will save sinners, from the following three reasons:

But we know that those brethren who oppose us in this, are wrong, for the following reasons:

[482] Brethren, have all confidence in the gospel of your salvation; preach it, advocate it, propagate it; perpetuate and hand it down to the future generations. We have all confidence in it; expect to lean upon it while living and when dying. “We commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified,” said an old saint, when leaving a church, and when assuring the disciples that they should see his face no more. The gospel will live; and, those who have confidence in it, love it, preach it, and practice it, will live co-existent with the years of God.

HUMAN language, perfect or imperfect, is the only medium through which a revelation to man ever was or ever can be made. We do not claim for the medium that it is perfect, but the revelation itself is perfect. The imperfection of language and instability form the occasion for new translations and revisions. Revelation, when first given to man, was perfect and the language employed to convey it to the mind of man answered the purpose. In the providence of God, the original [483] languages through which revelation was made died, and consequently ceased to change. But, in the very nature of things, a living language is always changing. The circumstance, however, that language is an imperfect vehicle through which to convey divine things, is no objection to the divine things thus conveyed to us. It maybe a reason why our knowledge of revelation will never be perfect in this life; but certainly no reason why revelation itself shall be considered imperfect. It may be alleged that revelation to man is more difficult on account of the imperfection and instability of language; but the same difficulty lies in the way of every kind of communications to men.

The true state of the case is, that the medium of language is sufficiently perfect and entirely adequate for all the purposes of a revelation to mankind. The communication from God to man found in the Bible is sufficiently clear and intelligible for all the purposes of its original design. The man who will make an honest effort, can understand the will of God concerning him—can discriminate between good and evil, right and wrong, the way to hell and the way to heaven. But the man who will not make an honest effort, would not be a Christian if one would rise from the dead before his eyes. If he had seen the Lord in person he would have found occasion for caviling. The seed of the kingdom must fall into a good and honest heart.

It is useless to fall out with the medium through which revelation has come to man. The best medium in existence was employed, the very one through which we communicate man with man, and the one with which man is more familiar than any other—the medium of language.

[484]

WE have lately been reflecting upon an opportunity for doing great good perfectly within our reach, to which many are paying but little attention. Who among our brethren are thinking how many humble, unassuming and comparatively obscure men we have, who are actually doing a great work, and not only doing it at their own charges, but doing it without thanks or even credit from their brethren? While we are paying much attention to a few men of popularity, influence and fame, we are overlooking a large number of the best, truest, most self-sacrificing men the Lord has given us. These, too, are the men who are doing the main body of the work, and they are the main supports of the cause. They are men of good sense, piety and devotion; men of excellent character, an honor to the cause and a credit to the brotherhood, who are penetrating the private neighborhoods, preaching in private houses, school houses, barns, shops, and open groves, and bringing thousands to the fold every year; and in the place of the brethren making any arrangement to support them, or even saying anything to encourage them, they are saying discouraging things of them, such as that “they can’t preach”—“they are little preachers,” etc., etc. [485]

Now, we desire to hear of some old church, where wealth abounds, instead of monopolizing money and talent in preaching in their midst, where probably they can do but little good, making arrangements outside to sustain some good man, such as we have described, to visit those by-ways all through the land, where most numbers may be converted and the work of the Lord greatly extended. We have the men to do this work, good men, men in whom we have all confidence, who desire to do this work, and are doing it measurably without charge. These men do not desire large wages for their work. Indeed, they have shown, in many instances, that they will work on, pay or no pay. But they could do vastly more if they were supported. Now, the idea of our fixing our eye upon a few talented men, paying them large salaries, and wholly neglecting these, is manifestly wrong. It is sinful. We saw six or eight preachers such as we allude to, together in Mexico, Missouri,—and we find them in every community, and we vouch for the fact, that more than one-half of all the accessions reported are from men of this description.

We live in a time when humble men and good men are overlooked; when working men are forgotten and neglected; and we desire to make a plea in behalf of these. They are the men who are willing to go into all the highways and by-places—to preach in the private house, the school house, the barn, the shop or the grove. A large proportion of all the work that has been done is the result of the sacrifices, labors and toils of this class of men. They are the men that will now do the work, do it well, and with less expense than any others. There are hundreds of men of this description that have never received one hundred dollars [486] in a year for all their hard labor. We have in our mind several of this class, who have brought into the fold large numbers every year, and have received for their labor comparatively nothing. Will not the brethren make arrangements to do something for these brethren? They are willing to go among the poor, the destitute, and preach to them the unsearchable riches of Christ.

If those who have means to expend for the cause, will look to this class of men and to their work and aid them, they will do one hundred per cent. more with their means than is generally the case. These will go where another class of men will not go, and do a work that another class of men will not do, and yet a work every way as important to the conversion of the world. Send these men all through the land, and convert the country, and then we can easily convert the city. We have a large number of this class of men who can be employed for two, three and four hundred dollars a year, to preach a great portion of their time, and they are the only men who can and will penetrate all the nooks and corners of the land. The Lord help us to appreciate these good men, and see that they are aided in their labors of love and work of faith.

[487]

A young gentleman had called for the reconciliation of certain points in the New Testament narratives, which, to his mind, seemed incongruous. After noting each of the points separately, in the A. C. Review, for May, 1859, the editor added:

BUT, my dear sir, the reconciling what to you may be apparent discrepancies, is no reason for your becoming a Christian; nor should you think me unable to reconcile them, or should I really be unable to reconcile them, or should all men be unable to reconcile them, that would still be no reason why you or any man should reject Christ. The inability to reconcile these matters may arise from our ignorance and not from the fact that they are irreconcilable. It would not be a reason for rejecting the gospel, if the statements of these witnesses were really in themselves irreconcilable or inaccurate. The inaccuracy might easily have found its way into their testimony, in translating, transcribing, or interpolation, and Christ still be divine. The whole matter rests upon Christ, and not upon the congruity or the incongruity of the sacred narratives, unless their consistency can be so impaired as to destroy their testimony concerning Christ. The matter is not whether you can reconcile all the statements of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, whether you can show their consistency and understand [488] them throughout, but whether you believe in Christ or not, whether you will receive him or not. Can you say, sir, that you are pondering in your mind whether to regard Jesus as divine or an imposter? This is the question for you to fix your eye upon. You have not time now to study the whole Bible and decide upon a sentence at a time, whether you believe it or not. It would take you a long time to become a Christian in that way. You should not go to the Bible for that purpose, but go there to learn all about Christ, the purity of his life, his wonderful teachings, his miracles, his perfect knowledge of what is in man, the fulfillment of all the prophecies in him, with an eye simply upon the question—is he the Christ, the Son of God? You can shape your inquiries in different forms, though constantly bearing upon the same question, by inquiring as follows: Was Jesus perfect in his life? If he was, he was more than man, for no mere man ever was perfect. Were his teachings perfect? If they were, they were not of man, for no mere man ever gave the world perfect teachings. All merely human teachings, in all the world, and in all ages, have been imperfect, and, it is a miracle in itself, for a perfect being to appear among men, in human form, or a perfect system of teaching to be presented by him to man. He emphatically spake as never man spake.

Can it be possible that you, my dear sir, are vacillating in your mind whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God? Can you doubt whether he was the friend of man? whether he loved man? whether you would be infallibly safe under his guidance? Can you doubt whether he was good? whether his teaching was good? whether it was safe? You must feel [489] conscious that he is the Christ, the Son of God—the friend of man—that he loved man—that he went about doing good—that you are infallibly safe in following him—that his teaching is good—that it is divine. You would not now deny him for the world. Your eternal all is in him. If the worst things infidels have ever said of him were true, it is better and safer to follow him, than them; for they admit that he was better than they, and his teaching better than their own. As you value your soul, follow him.

THE following dialogue between Dr. Pietus and Dr. Fastidious, occurred in a social company, in a parlor, and, thinking it might be profitable to some brethren, and even churches, we have concluded to publish it entire, without recommending or condemning it; therefore, we let it speak for itself:

Dr. Fastidious.—I have, for some time, desired an opportunity to say a few words, though confidentially to you, Dr. Pietus, touching our preacher. I think he is not a suitable man, for such a prominent place as this. You know that we frequently have men of distinction here. Besides, our city is one of prominence, and we ought to have a man of distinction. [490]

Dr. Pietus.—I think our preacher is a good man, Doctor, a sound man, and a man of great moral worth. I thought he gave us one of the best exhortations at the prayer-meeting, on last Wednesday night, I ever heard. Did you not think so?

Dr. F.—I was not there. He is so uninteresting that I but rarely go to hear him. I know that he is a good man, and sound enough. But then, he is a very common man, and not sufficiently showy and eloquent for us. We need a first-class preacher in a city like this; a man who can draw out an audience.

Dr. P.—I never think of such a thing as a preacher to draw Christians out to meeting. The Lord draws me out to meeting. He has promised to be there, and I have never found his promise to fail. I am never disappointed, for I go to meeting believing that he will be there, and I always find him. But those who only go because they love some preacher, frequently get disappointed; for the preacher being a fallible creature, often fails to attend. But I do think our preacher is a good preacher. I do not know where we could get a better man.

Dr. F.—We need a man of distinction and notoriety, who will attract attention, and draw out an audience. I would then go out and try to do something. But, I have no faith in doing anything, till we have a more attractive preacher.

Dr. P.—My dear sir, we will never get a preacher who can draw out an audience, unless we draw too. As much depends upon a church in drawing out an audience as the preacher. No preacher can draw out an audience unless the church does its part. We must do our part as a church, or no preacher in the world can do us any good. I still think [491] our present preacher has done about as much for us, as any man could have done under the circumstances. It is not a different kind of preacher we need, but a different kind of a church. We need members that will attend the public worship, sing, pray, exhort, and stand at their post. In one word, we need a church that will stand by the preacher, encourage, sustain him, and hold up his hands.

Dr. F.—I never saw such a man as you are. You can be satisfied with any kind of preaching. I never saw you present when any man preached, when you did not appear satisfied, no matter how bungling he was.

Dr. P.—I think but little about preachers, have fewer favorites, and more rarely speak in praise or complaint of preachers, than almost any man you can find. I am not thinking of the messenger, but of the message.

Dr. F.—I can not bear a prosing, stammering and dry preacher. I have not heard our preacher present anything new in three months. I like to learn something when I go to hear preaching.

Dr. P.—When were you at meeting last? I do not recollect seeing you for some three months in the meeting house.

Dr. F.—I have been pressed with—I have not been very well—the preaching has not suited me, and there are many in the church that should have been excluded long since.

Dr. P.—No wonder you have heard nothing new from our brother; for you have not heard him at all. If his preaching had been the best in the world, it would have done you no [492] good, while you did not hear it. I will tell you, my dear brother, how to make preaching better to us: Read the Scriptures every day; pray night and morning; talk to every one you meet about religion, and your heart will be full of the theme. You will then like to hear any man who can preach at all. Attend all the meetings, participate in the songs, prayers, exhortations and all the other parts of public worship, and you will then be interested in all that you hear from good men.

Dr. F.—Your notions of preaching will not do. Our city is one of intelligence. This community, you must recollect, is highly enlightened, and we must have a man here that keeps pace with the age. We frequently have statesmen, lawyers, physicians and men of the first rank in attendance, and it is useless to think of interesting these with any common talents. We must have a man of taste, refinement, and highly accomplished.

Dr. P.—When did our Lord ever try to arrest the attention of the elite of this world by show, by mere human polish and flourish? Never, never, Doctor, as you certainly know. Are you not aware, my dear sir, that the wisdom of God is not in this vain and worldly thing that you speak of? Sensible people, those truly enlightened and great, can understand the gospel, appreciate and receive it, when it is simplified and made appreciable to the masses of the people. Not only so, doctor, but the class you aim to please, though enlightened in the things of the world, and accomplished, they are more unenlightened in the things of the kingdom of God, than many that you never think of pleasing. I am for a preacher that will try to please the Lord, whether he pleases your distinguished men or not. [493]

Dr. F.—We have had some of the best speakers in the world here, and the truth is, the people here know what good talent is, and they will not be satisfied with ordinary men. The people here have been well taught. No man can attract attention here unless he is a superior man.

Dr. P.—That the people here have heard some men of good preaching talent, is true; but that they are well-read and well taught in christianity, is far from true. That they understand Jesus or the apostles well, is far from true. Many perfectly country places and rural districts contain far more gospel light than may be found in the bounds of our congregation. We presume that we are wise, while many plain men from the country are astonished when they converse with us, that we are so ignorant. To be plain with you, my dear brother, I know of no place where there is, at this time, more need of plain, old-fashioned, New Testament preaching than here. It is not worldly show that we need; we have that now in abundance. We need the simple teachings of Jesus, solemnly and affectionately impressed upon our hearts, by some good man who loves us and will try to save us. In the place of being inflated with the conceit that we are well taught, far advanced and highly elevated in christian attainments, so that no man except one of the most exalted accomplishments can teach us, we should be sensible of what is the true state of the case, viz: That almost any plain and good man who preaches among us, can teach us many useful lessons that we do not know. [494]

Dr. F.—I can not agree with you. I have had my face burn more than once, in listening to some ignorant brother, blundering and trying to preach, who evidently did not understand his mother tongue, and that, too, in the presence of some distinguished persons. I can never countenance such a state of things.

Dr. P.—Doctor, I had rather hear some good man, who can not speak his mother tongue correctly, tell the plain story of the cross of Christ, in the love of Jesus, and in the spirit and power of a holy man of God, a thousand times, than to listen to one of your showy men, who can preach a beautiful sermon without any Jesus, Holy Spirit, love of God, or anything else, but the man himself in it. I desire preaching that will convert men to Jesus—to christianity and not to men. The converts will then love Jesus, meet and worship him and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. We do not want a man here to worship him, but to preach Jesus to us and teach us to worship Him.

Dr. F.—With your views of the subject, we shall never do any good. We shall never draw out an audience, nor accomplish anything. I am in favor of procuring a man at a salary of $2,000 or $2,500, that will command the respect of our city. Then we shall do some good. I am willing to give liberally when such an arrangement can be made, but I do not think our preacher is doing any good, and shall not give anything for his support.

Dr. P.—I am sorry to hear you speak so. Nothing, in my estimation could be more disastrous to us. This would consume about all we could possibly raise, so that we could not raise a dollar for missions, for colleges, the poor or anything only to pay a man to preach to us. At this rate our large congregation would only just be [495] able to support itself and bear its own weight! Who is to convert the world at this rate! If we can not do anything more than sustain ourselves who are to support missions, build colleges and take care of the poor? If you had such a preacher as you want, he would have to do everything himself, or you would not be satisfied. Not a brother in the church would ever pray, exhort, or do anything that would call forth a gift, or develop any talents that might be among our numbers. Hence in all these city churches where some great man is the center of attraction, they rarely ever bring forward any young preachers, or develop any new talent. They simply monopolize talent brought out and developed some place else. I am in favor of preachers of ability, not only in our city churches, but as far as possible, in all the churches. But the way must be opened among us for the development of talent in the church. Our pride must not despise incipient efforts—plain and humble men, nor human weakness. It is in all men more or less, though not always developed in the same form.

Dr. F.—I think if we had such a preacher as I wish, we would draw out an audience, convert many people and greatly extend the cause in one year.

Dr. P.—No, Doctor, that would not be the case. The preacher we have is just as good as any man we can get. He is a man of unquestionable talents and piety and if we stand by him, aid him and encourage him, thus showing to the world that we respect him, those without will also respect him and he will succeed. If we had the most gifted man on the continent and the members of the church would treat him as they have done our present preacher he would do nothing. By our [496] absenting ourselves, we virtually say, what you have in so many words said, that our preacher can do no good here. When the members of the church thus speak and act, neither a man nor an angel can do any thing; and, if I were the preacher, I would not stay a moment with brethren who would thus treat me. I would go where I could be appreciated. Doctor, come to meeting and let us make one good effort and see if we can not bring our church out. Let us produce a change in the church, and then probably our preacher will do well enough. I think we need a change in the church more than in the preacher, or preaching.

THE preachers who love Christ better than partyism, will preach Christ, will call the people to Christ, and induce them to love him, and love all that do love him. They will inquire his will, and do it. They will exchange the love of party for the love of Christ, and find it so much higher, holier, purer and happier, that they will ignore all party feuds, wrangling and strifes, and maintain simply “the faith once delivered to the saints.” No doctrinal corrections, or corrections in ordinances, or in organization and government, will ever amount to anything, or save a people, who have not the love of Christ. We may [497] be told that we may be mistaken, that they do love Christ. We cannot be mistaken in this, for the Lord says, “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. A man full of the love of Christ, will speak of Christ. The theme of his heart will dwell upon his tongue. Where Christ has promised to be, they will be with him.” “Where two or three are met together in my name, there,” says the Lord, “I will be.” How many go to these places where Jesus has promised to be? How many go to the Lord’s table, to remember his dying love? How many of the preachers will sit down together, as loving disciples, and meditate upon his dying love, his great suffering, as he bore our sins on the accursed tree?

When we have lost friends, we go to the grave, and think of them, try to bring them up in our memories. We talk with our friends about them, and about seeing them and meeting them in another state. How often do the professors of religion, in our times, think of the grave of Jesus, his resurrection, his coronation? How often do they commemorate his sufferings, and meditate upon his great love to us? His name is almost set aside, his sufferings almost forgotten, his love, even his dying love, scarcely mentioned! Yet the word of the Lord, when translated into English, thunders in our ears!—“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he will be accursed when the Lord comes.” We shall hear these words, and be judged by them, in a day when we shall feel their force. Jesus is the “one Lord,” the one object of love, the one head and king. Shall we make an effort to rescue the people from party influence, and win their hearts and affections from all the frivolous objects upon which they are placed in partyism, and place them upon Him [498] who is the express image of the invisible God, the brightness of the Father’s glory, and in whom all the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily? Who, with the love of Christ in his own breast, can fail to see that the work now for good men, is to call the attention of all men to Christ, to his word, his cause, his church, his salvation, his way, that they may love him supremely, and be his for evermore?

DEAR Reader, we are now about closing another year. This number completes our weekly visits for another year. The time appears short since we made the first visit this year, still, fifty-two weeks have run their course. Another year has fled, and is now numbered with the years before the flood. The good deeds of the righteous are entered on the records of eternity, to come up to their everlasting honor in the day when the righteous judge shall award to every man according to his works. Not only so, but all the crimes, the transgressions, and acts of disobedience of every variety, in a long catalogue, have gone up and been registered in the book of remembrance before the Lord. What a list must that be! What a spectacle must this world be, with all its dark crimes and acts of rebellion against the Majesty of heaven and earth, to [499] the eye of the omniscient One! Every den of drunkenness, debauchery, profanity, lying and gambling, lies spread open to the All-seeing eye. Not an oath falls without his notice, not a fraud, a deception, cheat, lie, or crime of any sort escapes Omniscience. All, all sins, transgressions and misdemeanors of every sort are treasured up and kept in store for the day of final account.

What adds to the solemnity of the matter is, that no amends can be made in acts of the past. There they stand irrevocably, so far as we are concerned. The Lord may wash away every stain in his own precious blood, where persons come to him in a proper manner. But even this does not amend for the past. It takes away our guilt, and is a means of saving us. But the wrongs done remain wrong and will so remain for ever. Repentance changes not the wrong done. In the same way, the good neglected, during the year now closing, will so remain for ever. We can do good, it is true, the coming year; but that we could have done, and that it would have been our duty to have done, if we had done good all last year. Opportunities for doing good never return. Other opportunities may come, but they would have come if no previous opportunities had been neglected. You had an opportunity this year to have ministered to the wants of the poor widow, the orphan, the sick, the afflicted and distressed, but these opportunities are now gone, and gone forever. If neglected, there is no remedy; that neglect remains forever. We may repent, obtain forgiveness and do good in time to come, but all that good could have been done just as well had there been no previous neglect, and would have been more liable to have been done, for one delinquency opens the way for another and has a tendency to induce it. [500]

In closing the year, it is well enough for us to cast an eye back over the ground, not to amend the year now closing, for that is impossible, but to see where the delinquency has been, and determine that a similar delinquency shall not be found in the work of the coming year. In this way, we may profit by looking over the past. What, then has been entered to our account on the records of eternity? What have we done as a great religious body? What have we done as individual congregations, or communities? What have we done as families? What have we done as individuals? What have we done as teachers in the Sunday schools? What have we done as preachers of the gospel? What have we done as religious editors? Now is the time to review and see how the account stands before the Lord. If the Lord should call on us for our annual report, ARE WE READY?

FINIS.

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The Publisher presents this volume to the Public in the hope that much good may result. It contains the mature thought of some of our ablest writers on an important Bible theme. While Symposium may be a novel thing among us, the Publisher would fain hope that an appreciative public will commend this method of presenting a subject from different angles of vision. It is believed that the times are propitious for the Disciples to make themselves more widely felt by their contributions to the religious literature of the age. It is the ambition of the Publisher to make this volume the first of a uniform Series; each to be composed of Essays on the living issues in Christian thought. The subjects for the different volumes will be chosen so as to make the Series comprehend a wide range. Should the plan be successful, the whole Series when complete, will form a unique and valuable addition to the libraries of wide-awake religious people. The Publisher sincerely hopes that the reception of this book may demonstrate a general desire on the part of the public for books of like merit and method; and that he may be able in this convenient form to send broadcast over the land the richest thought of the ripest minds among us, and be of service to the Master’s cause, and to his day and generation.

This is an elegantly bound little book. The style is of the highest order, all of the authors being first-class writers. The subject is profound, and so is the treatment. It has been handled in a masterly manner. The authors are not agreed, but it is a book of investigation and not of controversy. While the reader may not agree with some of the writers, he will feel that everything is said in a fair and manly way. The subject is viewed from every stand-point, which makes the treatise valuable to those searching for the truth. As the name indicates, this little book truly presents a feast.—C. M. Wilmeth.

Brethren A. B. Jones, G. W. Longan, J. Z. Taylor and Thomas Munnell. These are among our most thoughtful writers. They have done their work well, and we commend the book to all who feel an interest (and all ought to) in having and holding correct views on the subjects of the influence of the Holy Spirit as our indwelling comforter. The book concludes with a selection—The influence of the Holy Spirit in Conversion and Sanctification—from the writings of A. Campbell.—Dr. W. H. Hopson.

A neat little volume, executed in faultless style. It consists of several essays, original and reprint, from leading thinkers of the Christian Church. It opens with an article by Elder A. B. Jones, upon “Consciousness and the Holy Spirit,” and this is followed by one by G. W. Longan. There are essays by Thomas Munnell and other writers, upon the same subject, taking a different view of the same subject. But the most important in the volume is an old essay of A. Campbell, on the Holy Spirit. To those desiring the views of able men upon this question we would commend the book.—B. W. Johnson.

Address all orders to 

JOHN BURNS, Publisher,
717 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo.

Taken altogether, this book is deserving of hearty approval as a valuable contribution of material towards the proper understanding of the work of a past generation, and of the life of one who, whatever may have been his errors, developed in his life many of the characteristics of true greatness—an indomitable worker, a ready writer; a powerful preacher, whose strong practical sense, boundless energy, and earnest devotion to his work would have made him a man of mark in any department of life; and which in his chosen department, lifted him out of poverty and obscurity to a position of great influence and successful leadership, and won for him the admiration and affection of multitudes.

The publisher has done his work in creditable style. The book ought to have a large sale.—Isaac Errett.

Life and Times of Elder Benjamin Franklin.—We have just received a copy of the above work, from the office of the publisher, John Burns, St. Louis, Mo. It is a very handsome volume of 508 pages, good, plain type, on nice, white paper, and neatly bound in cloth.

We were very anxious to see the book, and rejoice that it has been published. We regard it as a valuable addition to our Christian literature, and think a copy of it should be put into every Christian library, by the side of the lives of Stone, Smith, Johnson, the two Campbells, Walter Scott, and others. These biographies of our great and good men should be read and studied by all, and especially our young preachers.—J. M. Mathes.

The work comprises a biography of Elder Franklin from his childhood—embracing his early life and surroundings, his conversion, consecration to the work of preaching; his early efforts, trials, sufferings and encouragements. There are in this portion of his life some touching and pathetic incidents concerning his wife’s struggles with poverty. His labor and growth as a preacher are recorded, his mistakes and faults are presented with fairness. His career as a writer is given, his connection with the various questions that presented themselves as matter of controversy with the denominations and among the disciples, his positions, changes and arguments are presented with fairness. Short sketches are given of many of the associates of Elder Franklin.

The style is plain, direct and very attractive. We found it difficult to lay the book aside when we had once looked into it until we finished it. Our readers will find it an interesting and instructive volume. We hope all of them will get it and read it.—D. Lipscomb.

The publisher has done his work well. There is nothing flashing nor fanciful in its make up. The man whose deeds it records was a plain, practical man. On pages 68 and 71 is a very just tribute to the humble, patient woman, the wife of Benjamin Franklin, who waits a little longer until the summons comes to call her home. The paragraph is a just and beautiful tribute from an affectionate son to a pious and devoted mother. Read it.

I hope that the book will have a very wide circulation. Let every one who can do so buy and read the Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin.—B. B. Tyler.

We are much pleased with a cursory glance at its contents. The tribute of love and affection which Joseph Franklin pays to his mother, when reciting her trials and tribulations as the wife of a poor and struggling preacher, and when recalling her devotion and self-sacrifice in the darkest days of a pioneer’s life, starts tears unbidden from our eyes, and causes us to thank God that he has given to the Church such peerless and faultless mothers.—John F. Rowe.

We have received from the publisher, John Burns, “The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin.” It is a very neat and attractive volume of 508 pages. The publisher deserves much praise for the mechanical execution of the work. It is printed on good paper, and in large type, and old persons can read it with pleasure. We will speak of it again when we shall have read it.—Dr. W. H. Hopson.

Benjamin Franklin was a great man. He was one of nature’s noblemen. He was not a favorite of fortune. The golden gods never wove a chaplet around his brow, nor emptied their treasures in his lap. He was one of the hardy sons of toil. His greatness was not the greatness of accident. He made himself great by the nobility of his life. He loved God and the truth. He never trimmed his sails to popular breezes. He was always on one side or the other of every important question, and generally on the right side. Though you might not always agree with him, you always knew where he stood. He gave no uncertain sound. He was a man for the people. His simplicity, his faith, and his devotion to the truth were simply sublime. In this lay his power.—Frank G. Allen.

There is a real charm in biography, especially when the deeds and struggles of a valuable life are recorded. Few studies are so fascinating to a thoughtful man as that of the growth of a human soul, the upbuilding of a noteworthy human life. We cannot think of a man who has made his mark in the world, without wishing to know the processes of his development; to mark the conflict of forces within, and limitations without, under the moulding power of whose interactions he became, at last, what we know him to have been. In this case it is the world-old story of struggle and conflict of a strong, earnest nature, grappling bravely with adverse surroundings, and pressing forward with indomitable energy to final victory. The world is full of instances, doubtless, which illustrate the power of man over outward circumstances; but there are few such which are more satisfactory, I think, than that of the life traced in the volume before us. From the materials now accumulating, the historian of another generation will be able to do the chief actors of the last twenty-five years the justice of impartial judgment. Since each shall be present in the grand assizes of heaven, he can the more willingly commit his reputation on earth to the care of impartial posterity.

The enterprising publisher, John Burns, deserves much credit for the handsome shape in which the book is brought out.—G. W. Longan.

It might be thought, by some who read the work, that there is too much of the “Times” and not enough of the “Life” of Benjamin Franklin; but as the author justly claims, it could not have been done otherwise and be faithful. I regard the book as a faithful portraiture, which, indeed, should be allowed by all, especially since in the statement of propositions and differences, the author gives both sides.

A good part of the life of Bro. Franklin was the life of an editor, and my pen is uneasy to say something about the manner in which he conducted religious periodicals, but I must restrain it. Editors and preachers now-a-days think theirs is a toilsome, weary lot. Dear me! Well, let them read the Life of Benjamin Franklin and become ashamed of themselves.—L. B. Wilkes. O. A. Carr.

Address all orders to 

JOHN BURNS, Publisher,
717 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo.

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