Part 13

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 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 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 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.

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, 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 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.

CHRIST THE CENTER.

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 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, 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.

RICHES OF FAITH.

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 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?

ONE BAPTISM.

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.

DISTURBING ELEMENT.

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 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 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.

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH.

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.

WHO CRUCIFIED THE SAVIOR.

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.