Part 11

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 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.

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 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 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 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 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.

WHAT IS CAMPBELLISM?

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 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.

YOUNG PREACHERS MUST BE PRACTICAL.

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 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.

CHRISTIANITY.

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 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.

KEEP POLITICS OUT OF THE CHURCH.

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, 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 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 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 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 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.

UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS.