Chapter V: Part 5

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.

The mere circumstance of a man being punished for his sins in this life, has nothing in it to purify his soul, purge his conscience, or prepare him for the enjoyment of God. The Egyptians, the Antediluvians, the Sodomites, and the Jews, had a just recompense of reward sent upon them in this world, but this only sent them down to _tartareous_, to be reserved, with the angels that sinned, to the judgment of the great day, where, we are assured, Sodom and Gomorrah shall appear. Some men appear to think, that if men are punished, to use their own style, as much as their sins deserve, they must necessarily be happy then. But men can not be happy—can not enjoy God, without justification, purification of heart and conscience; and, unless thus prepared for the enjoyment of God, they can not enjoy the world to come. This is a work that punishment can not do. The hurling of angels, that sinned, down to hell, the drowning of antediluvians and Egyptians, the burning of Sodomites, and slaying of Jews, did not purify one of them. If men live in unbelief, commit some capital offence, and are executed for it, though this may be a just recompense of reward, it will not purify their souls and prepare them to enjoy God. When men pass the boundary line of life, they pass all the means, in the economy of God, for preparing them for heaven, and no punishment will ever do what the grace of God could not do.

THE MISSION OF INFIDELS.

The mission of infidels is not to build up anything but to pull down churches, civil laws, governments, morals, the characters of men and women, peace, happiness, protection of home, property and life. They come with a mission of denials of the truths contained in the Bible—a mission of war upon the Bible, religion, and the friends of purity and mercy. They come not with a mission of peace and good will to man, but a mission of hatred towards the Bible and all it enjoins—a mission to pull down and destroy—to spread desolation among other men’s labors and lay their work in ruins, leaving nothing but wrecks and devastation. They come to neutralize, paralize and dishearten all efforts for the amelioration of man’s condition—to discourage, enfeeble and ignore all efforts to rise. They come not into our midst with a warm, kind and affectionate appeal to the attentive, thinking and reflective portion,—the more spiritually minded; but appeal to the lukewarm, back-sliding, or the apostate, who is beginning to stand at a distance, who already is descending upon the retrograde plane—not to rescue him, or to prevent his retrograde movement, but to accelerate it. The appeal to him is not to give him confidence, but to destroy his confidence in his Bible, his religion, his brethren, and fill him with doubts and distrusts. It is not to embolden him, but to intimidate him and fill him with fears, and discourage him from all good forever.

The mission of infidels is not to enlighten, civilize and ennoble the nations. They have never enlightened, civilized or elevated a nation or a people since the world was made. They have never organized society, established peace and order in any place on this earth. They have established no civil institutions, no system of morals, no code of laws, no system of education, and no institutions of learning that deserve the name. Even the literature of the country has almost entirely been left to the believers in the Bible. It is an easy work to pull down civil government, subvert the foundation of organization, condemn the means of enlightenment, and object to them. It is an easy matter to deny everything and prove nothing; to doubt, vacillate and fear. It is an easy matter to distrust, fill others with distrust, destroy confidence, throw everything into confusion and uncertainty. Some men have fallen so fully into this state, that they hardly will venture to say they believe anything, have confidence in anything, or know anything. One man, under the blinding, benumbing and stupifying influence of unbelief, when asked whether he knew that he existed, hesitated to say he did.

What ability, knowledge or learning does it require, to deny everything? The most ignorant, illiterate and stupid, can deny as stoutly, as the most learned, enlightened, and talented. It requires no strength of mind to stand and deny—to declare in the most pertinacious manner, disbelief, want of confidence, doubts, distrusts and uncertainties in everything. A man who never read the Bible once through in his life, nor ten other books, who has the most corrupt character, can talk of inconsistencies, incongruities, contradictions and absurdities, in the Bible, as stoutly as anybody. Any blockhead could leap over the Falls of Niagara, or from the Suspension Bridge below. In the same way, any man with or without much mind, learning or talent, can leap into the dark abyss of unbelief, rejecting, contemning and despising all evidence; but, would it not be the part of prudence, of wisdom and discretion in such, to look before they leap? It is a fearful experiment they are making. If the step is a mistaken one, it can never be retraced beyond this life. He who makes the experiment, obtains nothing now, only the unbridled privilege of declaring the Bible false—religion priest-craft—that man will never be called to account, hence all men can do as they list.

The mission of infidels is to risk, and induce all men to risk the loss of everything, without the possibility of gaining anything in this world, or the world to come. They have no worthy object—they can have no worthy object in opposing the Bible. They have no reason for opposing it, for they do not propose to make the world any better. They have no proposition to make the world more true, kind, affectionate or happy. Indeed, the very fact of their malignity towards the Bible, shows that it is no fable. The land abounds with acknowledged fables; why are they not enraged at these? They are read by the million; but, sceptics are no more enraged at them than other men. If they are satisfied the Bible is all fiction, false or human, why trouble us about it? Why not let it pass? We hear thousands contending about the “signs in the moon,” but we care nothing about them, and do not even trouble those who believe in them; the reason is, we are well and fully satisfied, that there is nothing in them. Why do they not let the believers in the Bible pass in the same way? The reason is obvious; they are in doubt, not fully satisfied, and feel that there is uncertainty in their position. They see and are constantly impressed with the fact, that if the Christian could be mistaken that his mistake amounts to nothing—that he is as happy now, and has as high assurance in regard to all beyond this life, to say the least of it, as they; and that if the sceptic should prove mistaken, his mistake will be an irreparable one. They see that a mistake on the part of a Christian involves no danger, no serious consequences in this world or the world to come; while a mistake on their part involves eternal consequences. They are not constantly impressed, too, with the fact, that they are relying upon that which amounts to anything like certainty; for a large proportion who have occupied their position, before death have repudiated and renounced it,—many of them in the immediate expectation of death,—and warned all their friends against it. They find on the other hand, that all who believed the Bible when in health, also believed it when approaching death, and that no man who has contended for its truth till he was in the immediate expectation of death, has then denied it. They must, then, see that their mission is simply to fill the world with doubts and distrusts, involving all in darkness and uncertainty.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO AROUSE THE PEOPLE?

Is it not possible to rescue the people from the pernicious and blinding influences of speculative theories and theorists, and induce them to receive the simple faith of Christ, become his disciples, love him and serve him? Have the leaders of the people, in these times, as they did in the days of the Lord’s pilgrimage on earth, stolen away the key of knowledge, and fastened them down with such an impenetrable spell of thick darkness that they are unwilling to be rescued from this servile slavery to human speculation to the rejection of the sun of righteousness? Or is the world so lost, the mind of the people so bewitched, the delusions around us so enchanting, that it is impossible to attract the attention of the people, arrest their affections or impress their hearts, by the love of God to man, by the sufferings of Christ, by all the divine sanctions of the blood of the everlasting covenant, by the glories of heaven, or the terrors of hell, to turn to the Lord and follow him who loved us and gave himself for us? Is the public mind so distracted, and are the people so confused and lost to all that God has said and done, that they can not be induced to love Christ better than all human theories, regard him and feel the force of all his love to our lost and ruined world? Are the people so set upon gnawing the bone of contention, keeping up sectarian feuds; disputing upon the lifeless, soulless and profitless controversies thrust upon them, that they will neither hear the Lord nor be interested in the word of his grace? Must the public mind be wholly occupied with the useless distinctions between the views of men, the useless comparisons of doctrines and commandments of men, the comparative merits of different human systems, and an eternal train of customs unknown to the primitive church, thus bewildering the people and blinding their minds that they may neither see the Lord nor regard his authority? Is it impossible to bring the authority of the Almighty again to bear upon the world, to lift up the Lord before the people, that he may draw all men unto him, convert them to the Lord and place them under him? Is it impossible to rescue the people from the blinding influences of these times—from being merely followers of men, and believing human theories, which have no power to save, in the place of believing the great truth, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures—that he was buried, and that he rose from the dead? Is it impossible to interest the public mind with the things of God—with the revelation from God to man, with the religion of Christ itself? Is the love of God gone from the world? Has the Holy Spirit of God abandoned the church? Is the human race mad, insane and ruined, so that all pleadings and entreaties to turn to God must fail? Must the holy religion of Christ be set aside for the silly disputes of these times? Shall that holy religion that saved such vast multitudes in the days of the apostles, fired the hearts of the missionaries of the cross and supported the holy martyrs in passing through all the cruel scourgings, tortures and privations for the name of the Lord, be contemned, despised and rejected by the people of our day? O, that God would enable us to _arouse_ the people of this generation from the awful stupor and deep slumbers of carnal security to prepare to meet God!

A MOTHER’S GRAVE.

Earth has some sacred spots where we feel like looseing the shoes from our feet, and treading with holy reverence; where common words of social converse seem rude, and the smile of pleasure unfitting; places where friendship’s hands have lingered in each other’s; where vows have been plighted, prayers offered, and tears of parting shed. Oh, how the thoughts hover around such places, and travel back through unmeasured space to visit them. But, of all the spots on this green earth, none is so sacred as that where rest, waiting the resurrection, those we once cherished and loved—our brothers, our sisters, or our children. Hence, in all ages, the better part of mankind have chosen and loved spots for the burial of their dead; and on these spots they have loved to wander at eventide, to meditate and weep. But, of all places, even among the charnel-houses of the dead, none is so sacred as a mother’s grave.

There sleeps the nurse of our infancy—the guide of our youth—the counselor of our riper years—our friend, when others deserted us—she, whose heart was a stranger to every other feeling but love, and who could always find excuses for us when we could find none for ourselves. There she sleeps, and we love the very earth for her sake. With sentiments like these, I turned aside from the gayeties of life, to the narrow habitations of the dead. I wandered among those who had commenced life with me in hope. Here distinctions were forgotten; at least, by the quiet slumberers around me. I saw the rich and the great, who scorned the poor, and shunned them as infected with the plague, quietly sleeping by their side.

TENDENCY OF UNIVERSALISM.

That the obvious tendency of Universalism is irreligious; that it is opposed to holiness, to reformation of life; that it is in eternal hostility to all efforts to make the world better; that it paralyzes and neutralizes the efforts of men to serve God—is one of the most manifest impressions upon the mind, both from the theory itself, and from the history of its practical workings among men. No pretended system in our time has been characterized by such daring and unblushing effrontery. It comes forward under a pretense of faith, but ridicules the most awful and fearful things which that faith reveals. It discards the eternal discriminations which the faith of the Lord Jesus maintains between the righteous and the wicked—between those who serve God and those who serve him not—between the vice and virtue—except the reward of one and the punishment of the other, received in this life. It proposes to believe the Bible, and would have men believe that it teaches that he who was an atheist, a deist, and a scoffer at all that God has said, and a blasphemer of the name of God till he breathed the last breath, shall be received up into glory, and seated down with the holy martyrs of Jesus, and enjoy God forever! No other system has so far imposed upon the credulity of mankind, as to face the world, as well as the heavens, and declare that the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels, where the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever—the _gehena_ of fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched—is in this world, and that the wicked we see are actually enduring its punishments!

No infidel desires any better opposition to religion than this. No man who hates the Bible, and wishes its influence upon the world counteracted, desires any more effectual method of doing it than this, so far as men will receive it. Those who fall under its influence will neither worship God nor keep his commandments. Atheism itself has all the incentives to a righteous life found in this system, and may be trusted just as far. Its influence is to harden the heart, and fill the world with impenitence and indifference.

VALUE OF LEARNING.

If a man’s learning is combined with piety, devotion, and consecration to Jesus Christ, and he is possessed with the humility and meekness inculcated in Christianity, and his learning enables him to unfold the unsearchable riches of Christ, with the simplicity, sincerity and devotion necessary to commend it to the hearts and consciences of men, it is of great value. If the Lord dwells in a man, if the great matters of the kingdom of God fill his soul, and if his learning is used in presenting the simple gospel of Christ in meekness, it may be of great service to him; but, it requires much care to keep the Lord in front of it, so that the hearers will see nothing but him. The more gifted the man, the more learned and powerful, the better, if all his powers are engaged in setting forth and honoring the Lord, sanctifying _Him_ in the eyes of the people. At the same time, he should rely upon not learning only, or talent, or power that he possesses, but upon the Lord, upon his gospel—the power of God unto salvation, to every one who believes. He must look to heaven for the means to move men to repent; he must appeal to God, keep God and his works before his audience, and in this way show that his confidence is in Christianity itself, and the author of it, and not in himself, not in man. Whether men have what the world calls learning or not, they must know God, and have the love of God in their hearts, if they would induce others to love him and turn to him.

THE BIBLE INFALLIBLY SAFE.

Can men lead the people astray by insisting upon their adhering strictly to the law of God, uniting upon it, living in peace and love? Let the Lord reign. Let his law be the supreme authority. The Bible is right if anything is right. All led by it are led rightly; all under its influence are under proper influence; all opposed to it are wrong—all the way wrong.

There is not one ray of light from heaven that has ever reached the abodes of men in any creed, any book, or any man that is not in the Bible.

If the man who honestly reads the Bible to know his duty or the will of God, and does it to the best of his ability, praying daily for the divine aid, both in understanding and doing, is not safe, infallibly safe and right; no man in this world is safe.

EXCUSE FOR CREEDS.

One of the most common excuses offered for human creeds is, that “We want something to keep us together—something to bind us in union.” This apology is based virtually upon the same two preposterous assumptions we have before mentioned. It assumes, with great apparent innocence, that the Bible can not keep us together, that it cannot bind us in union. Then it assumes, with much modesty, that a human creed _can_ keep us together—bind us in union—_can do_ what the Bible _can not do_. This, it appears to us, should startle any good man at once. These assumptions are arrogant in the extreme, and not only arrogant, but made without any regard to facts. Do human creeds keep churches together? We assert, fearless of successful contradiction, that the whole history of human creeds proves that they do not keep churches together. Let us take one look at three of the most popular creeds in this country, and see what they have done in keeping churches together. How has the Baptist creed succeeded? Has it kept the Baptists together? By no means. From the one original Baptist stock we have now not less than nine or ten parties of Baptists. How has the Presbyterian creed succeeded in keeping its adherents together? It is thought to be a very wise and powerful document. Has it kept Presbyterians together? It has succeeded no better than the Baptist creed. With all its adhesive power, Presbyterians, within the last century have sundered into some eight parties. This needs no commentary. How has the Methodist Discipline succeeded? It is itself nothing but an offshoot of the Episcopalian creed, which did not prevent the Methodists from stranding off from the established church. The Discipline has not been in operation more than one hundred and twenty years. How has it succeeded in keeping Methodists together during that period? During that time Methodism has stranded into some eight or ten fragments. What comment this furnishes upon the efficacy of human creeds to cement together. Other creeds have done no better; and yet, in the face of all this, men want human creeds to _keep them together_!

All history shows, beyond all dispute, that wherever human creeds have prevailed, divisions have abounded, partyism has increased, and unity has been diminished. But where the people had confidence in the Bible, the law of God, the “perfect law of liberty,” union has more widely extended, and peace has more generally prevailed. Why then, in the name of reason, hold on to human creeds to keep churches together, when they have so universally failed, and refuse the Bible, which has never failed?

Faith in a creed can not convert persons, or bring them to God. If they are Christians at all, faith in God, the Redeemer and Savior of men, in the Word of God, in the Gospel of Christ, has made them such, and to God and the word of his grace they should commit themselves, their everlasting trust, and not allow themselves to be divided by human creeds.

OVER AND THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS.

This day was presented us some of the grandest objects of admiration, both of nature and art, we ever beheld. We saw some of the grandest, most stupendous and wonderful achievements of human enlightenment, combined with industry, we had ever seen. At one moment we found ourselves hundreds of feet above the tall pine trees, away in the valley below, where, if we had been thrown off the track, we must have been precipitated hundreds of feet down among the craggy rocks. In another moment, we passed from the skirts of tree-tops, plunging into the dark and dreary tunnel, cut through solid rock, hundreds of feet under ground, where we could no more see than if we had never had eyes. Truly is this a mighty and wonderful achievement for mortals—poor, weak and dying mortals? It is overwhelming that _men_ should ever have projected, prosecuted, and completed such a conveyance as this, such a vast distance through this expanded and rugged region of country!

But, vast as this achievement may appear, when we are looking at it as a _work of man_, it diminishes, dwindles and sinks into utter insignificance and nothingness, when we lift our eyes above it, to “the everlasting hills,” the workmanship of Him who “weighs the hills in a balance, and handles the isles as a very little thing.” Also, how our hearts are filled with reverence and our spirits impressed with awe, when we lift our eyes above the hills, to the vast mountains, and think of the thousands of miles over which this mighty range extends, as well as others on our great _universe_! We are, at the same time, filled with awe and gratitude, that we have the blessed assurance that we are not overlooked, forgotten, and lost in the immensity of the innumerable works of the Creator! But, blessed be his glorious name, vast and innumerable as are his marvellous works, he has the time, the goodness and compassion to provide for the fowls of heaven, and the fish of the sea, as well as the beasts of the forests. Among all the variegated multitudes of the feathered tribes, not even a sparrow falls to the ground unobserved by Him; and, by the same Omniscient One, we are assured, by our adorable Redeemer, the hairs of our heads are all numbered. To the same amount, and for the same purpose, he says, “If an earthly parent knows how to give good things to children, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” How comforting to think that he has promised, saying, “I will never leave you nor forsake you, but will grant you grace and glory, and no good thing will I withhold from you?” How secure, too, we can feel, and how strengthening to reflect, when dashing through these fearful mountains, conscious that though in one moment an accident might occur by which our earthly career might be terminated, the everlasting arms are underneath; and though the earthly building may be destroyed, we have an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. To his Almighty hand we commit our all; in Him is our everlasting trust. To him be praises forever and ever.

REASON, PROVIDENCE, AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD, TEACH US TO OBEY GOD.

Some men are guided by _reason_, others by _providences_, and others by spiritual _influences_, separate from, or without the word of God. In regard to all this, it is not necessary to make much war upon them, provided _their_ reason, providences, or influences, lead them to obey the gospel, which we know was preached with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. But, it is a sad comment on _their_ reason, providences, or spiritual influences, when it leads them to disobey the teachings of the Spirit of God in the Bible. Right reason, true providences, or real spiritual influences, could not lead any in our day to disregard what the Spirit of God taught in the establishment of Christianity. In one short sentence: “The Spirit of God would not lead men to disobey what he has clearly required in the Bible.” No reason, providences, or spiritual influences, therefore, can be of the Spirit of God to lead men to disobey what the Spirit of God taught in the Bible, or required at the beginning. The Spirit of God required precisely the same of all persons, who sought the way into the Kingdom of God, in the days of the Apostles, that he does of all who seek the way now. The Holy Spirit has not changed. It is, then, a most arrogant and unfounded pretence, for any man who now attempts to set forth the way for sinners to come to God, to claim that he is led by the Holy Spirit, while he evades and refuses to set forth the plain and unequivocal requirements of the Holy Spirit, as set forth in the New Testament, or attempts to improve upon them. Nothing can be taken from those requirements, or added to them, without incurring the curse of Heaven. The Spirit of God, if he did lead men independent of his word, could not lead them to incur this awful curse; he, therefore, manifestly, does not lead any man who will add any thing to, or take anything from, what he required when he spake through the apostles, of all whom he showed the way into the Kingdom of God. That which he required in one case, he required in all cases. If he required one man to believe, in order to become a disciple, he required all to believe. If he required one man to confess Christ, he required all to confess him. If he required one man to repent, he required all to repent. If he required one man to “be baptized in the name of Christ, for the remission of sins,” he required all to do the same. If he promised one man pardon and the importation of his Holy Spirit, upon his compliance with his requirements, he promised all who complied with the same, whether all the items mentioned in one case, are found in all, or not. No matter if faith is not mentioned in the case of the three thousand on Pentecost; it is not left out; they all believed; for, without faith, it is impossible to please God. They that come to God must believe. No matter if repentance is not mentioned in Saul’s conversion. Acts xxii. 16, he repented, for God requires all men, everywhere, to repent. The same is true of all the items.

We, therefore, are the only people now known, who proceed upon the infallibly certain method of collecting, and arranging in proper order, all the items required by the Holy Spirit in the conversion of sinners; we mean the inductive mode of reasoning. We have no preference for any particular part of Scripture; it is all precious to us. We have no particular class of Scriptures, as Calvinists, Universalists, Unitarians, etc., but we take the whole Scripture; not to prove our doctrine, but as the perfect and complete system of doctrine itself. When we wish to examine any point of doctrine, we proceed upon the inductive plan, and take all the Bible contains as the mind of God upon that point. When we would ascertain what the Holy Spirit of God requires of sinners, in their conversion and admission into the Kingdom of God, we proceed through all the conversions of the New Testament, collect all the items, and ascertain their order, and insist that the Holy Spirit requires the same now; nothing more, nothing less. Let us, then, take a brief look through the New Testament, at all the conversions, and ascertain precisely what is required and what is promised.

We open at the following words of the Philippian Jailor: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Here is a Pagan whose attention is for the first time called to the subject. What reply does the apostle make to him? The answer is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,”—Acts xvi. 30-31. Here is an important item in the form of requirement, and one, too, that can not be dispensed with, for the Holy Spirit says: “He that cometh to God _must_ believe.” It is not only a requirement that he should, but a positive and unequivocal demand is that he _must_ believe, and this indispensable demand of him that “cometh to God.” See Heb. xi. 6. But now for the order of this item. Is it a first, second, third, or fourth item? Is it the first item, for the apostle says, in the context, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” It is in vain, then, to try to do any thing else to please him, so long as a man does not believe. It is the first item, because the apostle required it first of a man who had complied with no other item, in such a way as to lead him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ the first thing he did. It is the first item, because “whatever is not of faith is sin.”—Rom. xiv. 23. It must, therefore, be the first item, because everything else proceeds from it and is done by it. The first item in the commission is Faith, and he that sets aside that item will be condemned, let him think and act as he may in regard to all other items. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be dammed,” says the Lord. The first requirement, then, is to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and without complying with this requirement, or taking this step no person can ever take another. There is no reaching the second step without taking the first. Unless the first step is taken, it will eternally stand between any man and the second. This indispensable step was required of, and taken by all who came to God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who spoke through the apostles to the people to lead them to God. Never did one, from the days of the apostles to the present time, get round, or by, this great requirement, and come to God. It is true, that when the Pentecostians and Saul inquired what they should do, they were not commanded to _believe_; but it was not that faith was dispensed with in their cases, or that the Lord had a different method of conversion for them, but for the good reason that they _already believed_, and their faith caused them to inquire what they should do.

Acts iii. 19, we find the following requirement laid down: “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” This requirement was uttered to an assembly that had just witnessed one of the most manifest miracles of the apostles—one which the enemies mentioned shortly after, admitting that it was known to all who dwelt in Jerusalem and that they could not deny it, and at the close of a discourse which they had heard, and which had convinced them that the work was of God. The Holy Spirit, on this occasion, demanded of them to repent, reform, or amend their lives. This demand too, is as wide as the actual sinners among men. In the times of ignorance before the gospel, God did not hold men to a strict account for their sins, “but now he commands all men, everywhere, to _repent_, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness,” Acts xvii. 30-31. Repentance, too, is indispensable. “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke xiii. 3. What does the Lord mean by this word, “except”? John iii. 3, he says, “except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” Two verses after this, he says, “except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” Here we have the same word, “except,” again. What does he mean by it? At verse seven, he explains as follows: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, _Ye must be born again_.” _You must repent_ or _perish_, then, is the meaning of the words, “except ye repent, ye shall perish.” Repentance is then required of “all men, everywhere,” and is indispensable—_must be_.

But what evidence have you that repentance is the second item? It is the second item, because we have shown that faith is the first, which shows that repentance can not be the first; and because Peter—Acts ii. 3, and iii. 19,—addressing people who believed, but had not repented or done anything else, commanded them to repent. He makes it the second item. It is the second item, because a man can not repent till he believes in the Lord, before whom he must repent, and who convinces him of sin, for, “by the law is the knowledge of sin,” which shows that it must follow after faith; and because there is no other item in all the records of conversions required, that he can acceptably comply with, till he does repent. An impenitent person can not pray, confess, be baptized, or do anything acceptable to God. The person, therefore, who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, can not get over repentance, or do any thing else acceptable to God till he repents. His faith will do no good so long as he continues in impenitence. For his impenitence, if he persists in it, he must perish. In the order of God, it is the second step, and unless taken, will eternally stand between him and the third step. No advance can ever be made till he repents. “Except ye repent, ye shall perish.” It is true, that Ananias did not command Saul to repent; but it was not because it was omitted in his case, for no man ever entered the Kingdom of God without repentance; but he was not commanded to repent, for the good reason he had repented before Ananias came to him. We are not to expect any historian, in giving records of conversions, and so many instances, to mention all the items in each case.

WHAT IS CAMPBELLISM?

This has been a puzzling question. It is hard to find out precisely what it is. Not a man yet, of all who have been engaged in fighting this monster, has defined it, explained it, or told what it is. It has been called a dangerous _heresy_, and so many hideous warnings have been given against it, that the hair would almost stand upon a man’s head to hear about it, and yet no one has told what it is. The reason no one has defined _Campbellism_, is, simply, that _there is no such thing in existence_, except in the imaginations of some misguided doctors. As near as any man can now come, at what they mean by Campbellism, it is _Christianity itself_, unmixed, unadulterated, and without any other name. This is evident, for, when they hear a man preach, who preaches nothing but Christianity, nothing but Christ, simply aiming to convert men to him, and induce them to receive him as their only Leader, they call it _Campbellism_. It is nothing but a nick-name they have given the gospel, to keep men from hearing it. In the same way, they call the preacher a _Campbellite_, who will preach nothing but the gospel, nothing but Christianity, to raise prejudice against him and prevent people from hearing him. In precisely the same spirit, here comes Rev. N. L. Rice, of heresy-hunting memory, in a tract of forty pages against Campbellism, which the reader may think as he pleases about, but which is as much against the religion of Christ, and those trying to receive it, practice it, and maintain it, and it _alone_, as was in the power of Dr. Rice to make it, without, in so many words, saying so. No man in this country, at this time, can preach simply the gospel of Christ in the name of the Lord, under any other name, and maintain the law of God, as the only rule of faith, without being called a Campbellite, and branded with preaching Campbellism.

YOUNG PREACHERS MUST BE PRACTICAL.

The young man who would become a preacher, while he is receiving knowledge, or obtaining the theory, must ply himself to the work, making a practical use of what he learns. A man may study for years and acquire an immense amount of knowledge, but having no practical use of it, he is as helpless as an infant. In precisely this predicament are thousands who have gone through the manufacturing process of making preachers, without any practical use of all they have learned. Indeed, many of them have learned nothing of consequence, of one of the most important chapters in a real preacher’s learning, viz: “The ways of the world.” The knowledge of the Bible—general “book-learning,” is all right. It is indispensable. But to _know man_, is equally important. Man must be studied to be known. We must converse with him face to face. We must know the world by actual contact with it. We must know the church by actual observation. We must know the obstructions in the way of truth and righteousness by actual contact with them, with actual and personal efforts to remove them.

Not only so, but the people must know the preacher—see him, hear him, and have personal interviews with him. His work can not be done by proxy. He must go _himself_ and put his own hands to the work. He must be with them and give them a personal example of deportment and religious conversation, read the Bible to them, pray with them in their families, give thanks at their tables, go with them to the place of worship, preach to them and persuade sinners to repent. A man who does not do this, is really no preacher of Christ, and will accomplish nothing for his name.

CHRISTIANITY.

Christianity literally subverts everything else, sets aside all isms, doctrines and commandments of men of every grade, as the most insignificant childish play. It comes to men, claiming the right to have the attention of all as though all beside were undeserving of any note or any regard whatever. Not only so, but it gives no chance to assail, expose and refute, for it maintains nothing but the Bible, but Christianity, but what God has given by inspiration and proved by supernatural signs and wonders, accompanied with gifts of the Holy Spirit, which all its assailants have to admit true! Can we expect to present the only true religion; the religion of Jesus Christ itself; the only true system; Christianity itself; the only revelation from God; that contained in the Bible; the only authority of God; the authority of the Word of God; the only true doctrine; the Gospel of Christ itself; and declare everything else unauthorized—null and void; hindrances to the progress of truth and righteousness; to the edification of saints and the conversion of the world, and meet no opposition? Not rationally. The watchmen on the old party walls of their little Zions will see the tendency of all this. They will see—they can not help seeing—that precisely in proportion as we succeed in fixing the attention of the people upon God, his authority, his Son, our gracious Redeemer and Savior, his word, his law, his religion, as a distinct, complete and perfect system, with all the power, grace, wisdom, mercy, benevolence, and authority of the Almighty in it, calling the attention of man to it as the only medium of salvation, all their systems must necessarily lose their attraction, their command and influence, and hasten to ruin. Many of these watchmen are pledged for life, too bigoted to look if they may be mistaken, too obstinate, and self-willed to yield, and will oppose to the last.

KEEP POLITICS OUT OF THE CHURCH.

If a man has a leading object in view, no matter whether religious or worldly, let him come out in his proper color, declare his object, and drive directly at it. If a man has a favorite political scheme let him declare it, publish a paper advocating it, or maintain it in public addresses; but not under the name of _Christian_; not in the name of the Lord, nor under a pretence of preaching Christ; for this would be a manifest imposition, no matter how good the political doctrine. But every attempt to make the religion of Christ auxiliary to political ends, is a perversion, and in direct opposition to the whole spirit and entire bearing of the Lord’s own reply, when charged with being a political aspirant. When arraigned before Pilate, and charged with claiming to be a king, he explained the matter, and obviated the charge, or set it aside, by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence.” John xviii. 36. While he frankly admitted that he was a king, and that he came into the world to bear witness to the truth, he set aside all ground of suspicion against him, as an aspirant to the throne, or any other part in the civil government, or one who would in any way meddle in the civil institutions of his country, by declaring that his kingdom is not of this world. This declaration was no evasion, but a clear, important and divine truth, and must be shown in the lives of the disciples of Christ, by following his example, or the cause will suffer immeasurably.