Part 9

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 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.

APOLOGY FOR CREEDS.

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 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.

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 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_.

HEAR YE HIM.

“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 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 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 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_.

EVANGELISTS AND EVANGELIZING.

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 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 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 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 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.”

A WORKING MINISTRY.

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 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 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.

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.

PRESENT PUNISHMENT WILL NOT SAVE.