Chapter IV: Part 4

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

REFORMATION A SUCCESS.

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

WHAT WE ARE FOR.

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

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

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

A SUGGESTION.

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

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

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

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

ANNIHILATION—FUTURE PUNISHMENT.

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

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

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

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

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

DESIGN OF MIRACLES.

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

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

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

CAIN’S WIFE.

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

WHAT IS ESSENTIAL.

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

WHAT WE KNOW IS RIGHT.

We _know_ it is right to “Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly; and with all wisdom _teach_ and _admonish_ each other by _psalms_ and _hymns_ and _spiritual songs_; _singing_ with gratitude in our hearts to the Lord”—to “be filled with the Spirit; _speaking_ to one another in _psalms_ and _hymns_ and _spiritual songs_; _singing_ and making melody in our hearts to the Lord.” This _can_ be done, and _we know_ it is right; but that a man can make melody in his heart to the Lord “with an organ,” a fiddle, banjo, clarionet, lute, fife or jew’s-harp, we do not know, nor do we believe it. We want to do what is written, and enjoin it on others, to do it. What is not written we do not want to do. When the Lord so minutely describes _how_ we are to do anything, we want to do it in that _way_. The _way_ he prescribes will do the thing commanded; some other _way_ might not do what is commanded at all.

INFANT SIN—INFANT SALVATION.

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

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

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

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

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

OUR AUTHORITATIVE RELIGION.

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

REFLECTIONS FOR DANCERS.

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

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

MOTTO.
“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
I. Thess. v. 21.

This means to _test_ or _try_ all things, consider their claim, and determine which are good. Hold that fast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPIRIT OF INDIFFERENCE.

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.