Part 27

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 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.

INNOVATIONS IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.

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 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.

THE BIBLE GROUND.

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.

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 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_.

THE WORK OF THE DISCIPLES.

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.

_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!”

NOT TO KEEP COMPANY.

“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”—_I. Cor. v. 11._

“Let every man examine himself and so let him eat.” —_I. Cor. xi. 28._

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.

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.

EXTENT OF ONE MAN’S INFLUENCE.

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, 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.

PULPITS.

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 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.

WHY INFIDELS OPPOSE THE BIBLE.

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 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 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.

MIRACLES.

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 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 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.

“AFFIRMATIVE GOSPEL.”