Church Unity
Fifth Lecture
INTRODUCTORY.
We will commence by reading portions of God's Word concerning the great central law of Christ's Church, the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
"2 And though t have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
"3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."This is what is commonly understood by the word charity,-giving of goods to feed the poor, but love is a better meaning.
"4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
"5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
"6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;"198
It is not charity that covers up sin, rejoices not in iniquity.
"7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
"8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
"9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
"10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
"11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
"12 For now wo see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
"13 And now abideth faith, hope, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."This is spoken of love for the brethren. God's children have to exercise patience and forbearance toward each other in their weakness and infirmities. These miraculous gifts were not to be continued; they were used in the introduction of the gospel, but under the new covenant the Word of God is the ground of the Christian's faith and not miracles, and holy love the proof of discipleship and the chief of the graces.
I will read a part of Christ's prayer for his Church, in the 17th chapter of John, verse 9:
"9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine."
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None have the benefit of Christ's prayer except those who are in his Church. There is no hope for the world. The only hope for our race is that they come into the fold. He prays not for the world, but for his Church. He did not come to reveal himself to and reprove the world, but to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1: 21) and none who abide in unbelief outside of the Church have any hope of salvation.
"10 And all mine are thine; and thine are mine; and…
Christ claims to be the proprietor of his Church, and he is jealous of his ownership. There is a significant lesson taught in the parable of the vineyard. Jesus Christ speaks of the landlord who lets out his vineyard to husbandmen and goes into a far country. At the time he should gather the fruits of his vineyard, he sends his servants to gather what belongs to him, but they ill-treat his servants, and kill them or drive them away empty. Last of all he sends his son, saying they will reverence his son. But when they see his son they say, "This is the heir, come let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours." That selfish "our" is what crucified the Son of God. Men seize upon God's Church, and claim it for their own. The only reason why every minister of Christ has not equal liberty in every pulpit is because of the same the Jews were guilty of the selfish "our!" There was never more high-handed robbery on earth than for a religious corporation to take pos-
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session of God's Church and pulpit and claim it for their own. It belongs equally to every child of God and every minister of his. This selfishness has slain all the martyrs on earth. A jealous priesthood has cut off the liberty of God's Word. And the so called Church has stood right between the people and the saving truth which they need to hear. The saloon-keepers are by no means guilty of the sin of a Church that cuts off the liberty of God's truth from reaching its members and the people. That is what Church corporations are doing, seeking to build up their own selfish interests.
Every Church that is Christ's Church belongs to every one of his ministers alike, and to every one of his disciples. William Farel, one of the purest of the reformers in' Switzerland, at different times entered pulpits where he knew he wasn't wanted, and suffered imprisonment in consequence. He entered Neufchatel where he was known by reputation but not by sight and when all the people were assembled, while the priest was saying mass at the altar, William Farel walked in and up into the pulpit and began to speak the living word as he alone could do. The priest was astonished; he did not know who he was. The preaching was attended by the power of God but soon the cry, "William Farel," was heard. They made a rush for him, and he ran out of the house and was rescued by the police of the city, perhaps to the saving of his life. If William Farel was alive to-day the people who are doing now as the
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Jews once did, "whitwashing his sepulcher," would have him arrested and put in the insane asylum. The City of Berne protected William Farel because he was the favorite preacher of that city.
Now hear Jesus in behalf of his Church.
"11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
"12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name : those that thou gayest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
"13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might might have my joy fulfilled in themselves."There is no true joy in this sinful world except inside the Church of Christ, the only true Church which is kept by the power of God through faith. They are not of the world but called out and separated from the world.
We all know that you cannot find the world more concentrated than under the steeples of our city churches, hence the proof that they are not the Church of Christ. God has true children in them but he says, "Come out of her, my people." We don't sit in judgment and say all in Babylon are false, but we preach the Word which condemns the systems of idolatry and calls God's people to escape out of Egypt and Sodom.
"14 I have given them thy word ; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
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"15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
"16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
"17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
"18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
"19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."It was by believing a lie that man fell; it is by reversing the process, believing the whole truth, that man is saved. He sanctified himself by setting himself apart for our salvation. So we have the benefit of Christ's prayer for his Church.
"20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their world;
"21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
"22 And the glory which thou gayest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
"23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."According to Christ, the argument for his religion is its power to unite his disciples. Their union is the proof to the world of his religion. So, on the contrary, divisions are the strongest argument that infidels can bring against Christianity.. And infidels give prominence to that argument. This is the main thing I hear at Paine Hall in Boston. But I assure
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them that Jesus Christ agrees with them in that argument. His prayer is for the unity, and not for the division of the Church, that the world may believe.
Five times in this prayer he pleads for the unity of the disciples, as he and the Father are one.
PRAYER.Almighty God, our Father, in thy providence we are here once more at this place to hear from thee out of thy Word; and we thank thee that we have the example of this glorious prayer of our Lord for his disciples; not only then but to-day and down to the end of time. 0 God, we pray that thy Spirit may impress the sentiment of this prayer on the hearts of thy children now so sadly scattered in Babylon sects and that the holy love and unity which thou hast made the essential proof of saving faith may be revived among thy people here and wherever the messages of love shall be heard or read, that the unbelieving world may be convinced that there is a reality in our holy religion, and that the unity of thy Church may prevail on earth as it exists in heaven without which there can be no hope for a place in those abodes of purity.
Grant thy blessing, 0 God, to-night on the Scripture reading'' and the preaching of its vital lessons for thy Church in these perilous times. And that we may be not only hearers but doers of the truth. Bless thy dear children who gather in this place that
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we all may receive spiritual benefit by our coming together and we will give thee the praise and glory of our salvation through Christ. Amen !
UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
I call your attention to-night to the vitals of the Christian Religion.. In the 13th chapter of the gospel according to John, 34th and 35th verses, we have the words of Christ: "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you." So Jesus Christ makes the visible test of discipleship to consist in that love which is the new commandment. Your attention has been called at different times to that inward law which distinguishes the New Testament Church from the Old Testament Church. If one form or ceremony, or Church book, or any other condition, was required by the gospel of Jesus Christ, then this could not be true. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." So then, there is that love which distinguishes the disciples of Christ and constitutes the main fruit of the Spirit by which his people are made visible.. The Master said, "By their fruits ye shall know them;" and the first fruit that is mentioned is love; that which joins the Church of Jesus Christ together here on earth as it will be joined together in heaven. This is the essential proof of the new birth. When we are born into the family of God we are born with a love that joins
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us to every member of that family inseparably, and with a stronger bond than that which unites the earthly family, for our Saviour teaches that unless we are willing to give up father and mother and the dearest earthly attachments for him we cannot be his disciples. I know how strong the natural affection is for a united earthly family; but stronger than this is the bond which unites the Church of Jesus Christ. So then, according to this teaching of the New Testament, all human bonds are not only superfluous, but a mockery. It is not necessary to get up an organization to unite the earthly family where natural affection exists.
The members of the family are drawn together by common experience of that love which God has planted in our earthly relations. And the highest joys of an earthly nature are those which spring from this love. In our family gatherings we have the highest experience of the pleasures of this life. So also in that spiritual and eternal family which we join by faith in Jesus Christ we have the highest experience of joy of which our natures are capable; and the gatherings of God's children ought to be gatherings of joy and gladness such as we can find nowhere else in the associations of this wicked world. It is of the first importance that we understand the nature of this love and the unity which distinguishes the Church of Jesus Christ. We want to understand the difference between holy love and selfish love. Jesus Christ speaks of false prophets which shall
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come in sheep's clothing on the outside, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. The wolf loves a sheep apparently as much as the shepherd does, but the motive is different. He loves the sheep to devour them with selfish and carnal greed. The unfaithful shepherds, spoken of in Ezekiel 34, have the same kind of love. They love the sheep for selfish gain. And it is by this false love that the religions of the world are deceiving more effectively than by any other means. Holy love is true discipleship; but selfish love so closely- resembles it that multitudes are deceived by it. I saw an illustration of the difference between true and false love in an Ohio town. A Christian brother told me his experience. He stands by faith in Jesus Christ outside human systems. A certain preacher was sent on a charge to the city where he lived. He went to hear him and was wonderfully pleased with his preaching. He seemed to preach with great fidelity and earnestness. The brother rented a pew and was willing to contribute his share to the preacher's support. The preacher called on him and showed wonderful love for him and his family. They were delighted with him because of his love. But after awhile he presented his class-book. This brother said lie could 'not join any sect, but was willing to co-operate with him in the work of salvation. From time to time the preacher would urge him to put his naive upon the Church book. Finally he said, "Do not ask us for our names any more, it is contrary to our con-
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victions. We are willing to co-operate with you and help in the gospel work as long as you are faithful, but we cannot join a sectarian division." The preacher came to his family and his house no more. When he met him on the street he would purposely cross over to avoid him. There was no more a hearty shake of the hand or expression of love. He had failed to get our brother and family on his class-book to report at conference, so his love was. gone with his hope of selfish gain.
This is only one instance-the love which is constrained by selfish and partisan motives is an abomination in the sight of God. It is of the utmost importance that we understand the difference between holy love and selfish love. A congregation accustomed to meet from Sabbath to Sabbath, and be come acquainted with each other naturally form attachments for each other, and yet those attachments may be entirely of a worldly nature the same as in, all worldly associations. That is not the love which unites the Church of Jesus Christ. Such is not a worldly love. It is a love that outlasts death, which is the best evidence of God's grace which we see in a brother or sister. We are born into God's Church by a common experience of holy love, a salvation from selfishness, hence we see the image of Christ in each other, and we love as we love the Master. The same bond which unites us to Christ joins us to all his children. The sectarian love has partiality in it. James says if we are respectors of
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persons and have partiality we are guilty of sin and convicted of the law as transgressors. So then partiality and respect of persons which is required by all
sectarian systems, is in direct opposition to that love which distinguishes the disciples of Jesus Christ, which is without partiality and without respect of persons because it is based upon the principles of holiness and righteousness and not upon selfish interests or carnal attachments.
We see in all denominations of the religious world precisely the same sin which Paul rebuked at Corinth, some for Paul and some for Apollos, denominationalism showing the nature of the unity which Jesus commanded and prayed for, and the nature of the divisions which are violations of his law.
It is plain that our denominational divisions are just what began at Corinth, and no believer of the Bible can honestly uphold them now.
Read further the words of Paul, 1 Cor. 1: 10 to 14.
"10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
"11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
"12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
"13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?209
"14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;"
How is it possible that those who claim Bible faith can practice and defend precisely the same divisions now? Paul says, "No divisions, -- must be of the same mind and the same judgment." "I am of Paul, I of Cephas, and I of Christ ! Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?" -- "I am of Wesley, Calvin, and Luther, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian," what is the difference?
The hypocrites say it is impossible now to have the same mind and same judgment! We must wait until we get to heaven before we put sin away ! Such reasoners will never get to heaven.
If we have the mind of Christ we have the same mind and the same judgment. Do we all have the same light and knowledge? Do we have perfection in knowledge? No! But we know nothing in religion more than Paul when he said: " I was determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." 1 Cor. 2: 2. The unity is plain. If we know nothing but Christ or what belongs to his gospel, divisions are impossible. But Methodists know Wesley, Presbyterians, Calvin, Lutherans, Luther, Baptists, water. Paul says, 2 Cor. 5: 16: "I know no man after the flesh" -- was determined to know nothing but Christ. This lays bare the devil of sectarian Babylon. Every sect knows something besides Christ, or besides saving truth. Unity is based only on that which saves.
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The facts are plain that what divides Christians they know are not essential to salvation. Christians in every sect will admit that those in other sects or outside of all, if they have Christ are sure of heaven. So by their ^n confession what makes their sect has no salvation in it. Every sect is built on another foundation besides Christ or besides saving truth, hence every sect is a system of idolatry. Unity therefore is based on evidence of saving grace, holy love and not human creeds and forms. The truth which convicts of sin and effects salvation is Christ on which the Church is built. Universalism is a lie, a denial of Christ's divinity or' atonement is a lie, these teaching never save, but comfort people in sin. The opposite truth saves, unites believers and separates them from the world.
In 1 Corinthians 3rd, Paul identifies divisions with the carnal mind which is enmity to God.
"4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
"11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."All sects are built on other foundations. Again in closing the 3rd chapter, Paul says:
"21 Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours;
"22 Whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all are yours;
"23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."
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NO PARTIZAN OUR IN THE GOSPEL
Paul, Apollos and Cephas are equally yours if you are Christ's. So every gospel minister, every gospel meeting and every house of worship truthfully dedicated to God, belongs equally to every child of God on earth for religious uses. If any true gospel meeting or house is not yours it is because you are not God's. For all things and persons in religion belong to every child of God for spiritual uses or benefits. Carnal lines of separation cannot exist in God's Church or kingdom.Partiality proves corruption. Respect of persons is sin. James 2: 9. Sectarian divisions compel this sin. Holy love draws no lines except where God draws them, between the pure and the vile, known by their fruits. It fellowships all God's children impartially who show the fruits of the Spirit and are separate from the world.
SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD.It is of the first importance in considering Bible unity that we understand the equally positive law of separation from sinners. The union for which Jesus prayed is not a conglomeration of sects or saints and sinners or indiscriminate fellowship of all who profess religion.
No Christian desires to see a union of the carnal with the spiritual. Christ prays for the unity of his disciples, and not a unity with the carnal-minded
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professors of the world. On the other hand, it is of importance that we understand the law of separation is just as essential as the law of unity. One is 'positive and the other is negative. In the 6th chapter of Paul's 2d Epistle to the Corinthians we read,
"14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
"15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
"16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
"17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
"18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."There is no possible harmony or fellowship between the mind that loves Christ and has crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts, and the carnal minded of the world. But the separation is not a literal separation. It is a spiritual separation. That text has been abused by some. There is a set of fanatics down in Texas I have met with, claiming to be
"Holiness" people who apply that passage to the earthly family. And if a wife is not esteemed a saint they put her away and get one that is a saint. If that applied to the family it would break up every household where there is a division of saints and
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sinners. We read, "The tares and wheat are to grow together." Jesus Christ, in giving the parable of the tares and wheat, said some proposed to pull them up; he said, " Let them grow together until the judgment." He says, "In this world," the world is the field where they are to grow together. He don't say in the Church. The Church is not the field. The separation between saints and sinners in the world is not to take place until the judgment. It is not our business to draw lines in that respect. In the earthly family saints and sinners may live together. It is not God's order that they be separated, for the saints may be instrumental in saving others.
We have to be on our guard if we mingle with the world to avoid the leaven of Pharisees and corrupting associations, yet at the same time, it is God's plan that we be in the world, though not of it, that the world may have the benefit of our example and gospel work. There is a separation of fellowship and spirit. We are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers in spirit. Christ says, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy." The greatest peril we have to encounter is from the leaven of hypocrisy. The leaven of false religion, a sectarian, worldly, compromise Christianity in name, is the greatest peril to the Church. The corruption of our hearts by unholy fellowship is what we have to guard against. We are not to shove people off as publicans and sinners, but if we are faithful in our earthly relations to reprove sin and exhort to re-
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pentance and seek the salvation of sinners whom we meet, then we will not be in danger of contracting their carnality. So then, whilst we are in the world we have to keep unspotted from the world by avoiding unholy fellowships.
Now, in regard to the unity for which Jesus-Christ prayed. It is of importance that we understand the nature of that unity. Is it a unity of divisions or a unity of Christians ? Certainly it is not a unity of divisions because that would only be a conspiracy against Christ's law of unity. It is a unity of individuals. Moral obligations are not conventional but individual. It is not corporations but individuals who are born again, who are bound by Christ's law of love. Unity of divisions reverses his law, and makes every member guilty of the sin of division.
Christ prayed that we be one as he and the Father are one. Can we conceive of any party division coming in between the Father and the Son? And yet, the unity for which he prayed for his disciples is the same as between the Father and the Son ! It is a spiritual unity. It-is not a unity organized by men. The unions of this world are distinguished from the unity for which Jesus Christ prayed for his Church, by their being joined carnally. They are bound together by selfish interests. "You protect me and I will protect you," is the law of all such unity. But the union of believers in Jesus Christ is not a selfish union of this world. We are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. "What
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God joins together let not man put asunder." It is the union which God created by the Holy Spirit which we are to cherish and keep. It has not a union based on creed or ceremony that man has gotten up. If we are united in a creed or organization that man has made, then our unity is based on another foundation besides Jesus Christ. "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ." But if there is a creed or a form and ceremony or man's organism which unites us, Christ is not the foundation. It is a spurious and idolatrous union. I am glad that it is utterly impossible for the whole religious world to agree on any ordinance or creed man devises. The basis of every man-made union in religion is its God, hence idolatry.
The abortive attempts to unite the religious world on ordinances or man's organizations have all ended in popery, or a sect with another head and foundation besides Christ ! The builders could not understand each other's language, hence divisions were a necessary result, and the Bible calls it Babylon (confusion) in contrast with Christ's spiritual Church. All man-made unions are frauds in religion. The basis of all such unions are golden calves of idolatry. I am glad man is powerless to unite the Church by earthly bounds. Because God is the builder and never delegated to man this divine prerogative! It is only the infinite presumption of antichrist which assumes to organize God's Church.
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THE ATTEMPTS OF THE REFORMERS TO
UNITE.
The most amazing spectacle of history was the attempt of Luther and Zuingle to organize a unity of the Swiss and German reformation. Thank God it was a stupendous failure, and so oug4t every attempt to fail which undertakes to unite Christ's spiritual body by human creeds and forms in a false Protestant system like the Papal establishment. O when will men learn that Christ's Church is a spiritual house of which God alone is the builder through the Word and the SpiritLuther and Zuingle failed to unite on the bread and wine ! We can see the wisdom of God in preventing the union of Luther and Zuingle and all the divisions which now exist. If the Christian world could be united into one ecclesiastical system it would only reproduce the vile power of Romanism. I am glad that it is utterly impossible for the carnal and spiritual Churches to unite. When they attempted to build a tower that would reach to heaven, we read that God confounded the builders, so that they could not understand each other's language. So, when the effort was made by the reformers in the sixteenth century, and since, to get up a union they justly failed. And every reformer down to Dr. . Campbell and later who has put forth strenuous efforts to produce a foundation on which the whole Christian world could be united, failed in his idolatrous purpose, for " other foundation can no man
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lay." If the Christian world could unite as Rome is united in a carnal organism, we would see the same oppression of conscience as when Rome had the power, the blood of holy martyrs in rebellion would flow again.
My hearers, you know I would have no liberty to preach in this court house if the existing sects were all united with the temporal power in their hands. The gospel I am preaching would be shut out of Charleston if any of the existing denominations had the civil power which Rome once possessed. If the whole world could be brought into a religious system or combination of divisions, it would obstruct the liberty of the gospel which is needed for the salvation of men. I am glad that they cannot unite. It is God's plan that they cannot. The only genuine unity is that which comes from God. When we are born into the family of God, we are born together, that is the unity which God wants us to have, and for which Jesus Christ prayed-a spiritual unity, and not a unity by man. Every time men make a unity they make a division. God has not instructed men to organize his union. He is the organizer of his own Church. W e are all baptized into one body, and there is no genuine union besides that which God has effected by his Spirit. We are joined together in Christ by faith and that is the only unity for which Jesus Christ prayed. It is a unity that, will outlast death and all denominational divisions, and the only union that will admit us into the pearly
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gates where no sect name can ever enter to introduce the jargon of earth. Paul says to the Colossians in the 3rd chapter, 10th verse.
"Have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, (Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist or Catholic), barbarians, scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all."
None therefore have put on the 'new man or are converted to Christ who hold to these earthly sect names. This is awful, but true as the Bible.
If you have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts, you have the same heart here which you will have in heaven. Death don't change the heart. If you have the selfish principle here, the religious attachments which belong to earth, you are unfitted for the joys of heaven. Death don't change the heart nor the Church of Jesus Christ, which is united spiritually; the Church which God has organized is the same on the other side as here. I am glad I belong to the same Church here I will belong to in heaven. The spiritual house is composed of spiritual bonds and stands by faith. It comes into existence by the birth of the Spirit. It is God's organization. That is the Church which I came here to ask you to join, out of which there is no salvation. We may be in Christ, by faith members of his spiritual Church and out of every organization that man has made. We all know that, and that we may be out
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of Christ and in any of these organizations. How is it then, if Christ is the only door to his Church, that we may be in any existing Church so-called, and be out of Christ? Whose Churches are those which we may be out of and yet in Christ, and in them and out of , Christ? Whose Churches are those which have not Christ for the door, head and foundation? There is no other proprietor besides Christ except the devil!
I am calling your attention to the simple and plain teaching of God's Word. Yes, it means something to be dead to this world and alive to God and spiritual things. It has been forty years since I was outside of human systems, and during these forty years I have been preaching Christ as an all-sufficient Saviour. I have gathered souls to him alone outside of all human systems. I am, as Paul says, determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and him crucified. If that is heresy I expect to die a heretic and receive a heretic's reward on the other side. Death don't change the relation of Christians to the Church.
FURTHER BIBLE TEXTS AGAINST
DIVISIONS.
I call your attention to other Scriptures against divisions. Last chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans he says: "I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid220
them." The zeal to build up selfish interests in religion causes divisions. Jeremiah speaks of the same in the 5th chapter 26th verse: "For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as lie that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men." The gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be preached where the motive is a craft.
Zeal for a religious craft corrupting the motives to build selfish interests in religion, is deceiving mankind and destroying faith in all religion more than any other work of Satan.
Paul says, "not walking in craftiness nor handling the word deceitfully." Every sect is a craft and of necessity causes craftiness.
Heresy is a Greek word meaning "a sect"; it is from the Greek "arieo," to choose, and hence a sect is caused by a choice in religion which divides Christians. A heretic is a sectarian who causes a separation from other Christians. In the Epistle to Titus, 3rd chapter and 10th verse we read, "A man that is a heretic after first and second admonition, reject." "He that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself." In the English it would read: "A man that is a sectarian, after the first and second admonition, reject." The soldiers who mutilated Christ's body were not so bad as those who would divide his spiritual body. In the Epistle of 2 Peter, 2nd chapter and 1st verse, we have
"1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you,
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who privily shall bring in damnable heresies (sects), even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
"2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways ; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
"3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."Now, these are startling words, that which makes merchandise of you. How can sects make merchandise of you until you become their property by joining them? Stock corporations own the cattle which the yards enclose. So it is with religious corporations, they own their members as. property. Such corporations are called Churches. They value the members according to the amount of money they pay. Those who pay the most have the control of the Church. I was pastor at one time of a Church where, six of the members controlled one hundred and sixty by their wealth. One rich man may carry the Church in his pocket book. Such is not the Church of Jesus Christ. Making merchandise of you ! This is what the Bible calls the sectarian Church business and Peter says "Damnable sects." 2 Peter 2: 1-3.
Tomorrow night, if the Lord will, I shall speak of the relation of money to the Church, its blessing and curse. I have seen this selfish principle of sectarianism carried out in the controlling power of money, and that a man's voice in the Church is according to his purse. Such is the nature of the earthly Church,
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but I am glad it is not of the true Church of Jesus Christ. The money scale is indicated for Christ's Church, in what he says about the widow who cast in her two mites-who actually cast in more than all those who cast in of their abundance. The heart with which the mites were cast in determined their value. The woman cast in all she bad-it was the heart offering which measured the amount given in God's Church. I am glad that the scale of value in his church is not as it is in the corporations of this world.
I will close now, by noticing some things in my own experience. In my travels I have, usually, in a strange community, inquired for a Christian family with which to find lodging and to stop with them.
At one time my wife and I stopped about sundown in a strange country at a farm house. I introduced myself as a gospel minister. There were four present, a man and wife, a son and daughter. I said I desired to find a Christian family with whom to stop over night, and would like to be informed where I could find such a family. They answered that they were all Christians in the neighborhood, that the Church was just back there. I then described a Bible Christian and inquired for any such person. The woman said: "The Bible says we must not judge." I replied that in the same chapter it said, "by their fruits ye shall know them." Then the man said, "I guess you have got us there." They did not know any Bible Christians. Then the
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daughter spoke and said, "I guess Mr. Porter is the kind of a Christian they want," and they all agreed at once that he was the one. We found they were sinners of the world, but they knew what we meant by a Bible Christian, and we left them in tears at our strange inquiry for a Christian family. And when we visited Mr. Porter we found him to be a Bible Christian indeed.
After a long visit with him he asked me to come and preach. I said, "Sectarians won't let me preach." He said, "They can't help letting you preach. I have the keys." So I preached. He received it joyfully, and some, of course, took offense.
I was passing by a saloon keeper. I said, "Tell me where I can find a Christian." He said, "What ,denomination?" I replied, "I don't know any denominations; I would like to have you mention any that are living up to the Bible, according to your understanding of it." He said, "I don't know of any such. There is an old man living on the hill that they call crazy. He comes as near it as anybody." I found him a child of God, recommended by the sa'loon-keeper. Coming into a place about sundown I asked a man working in a garden, "Can you tell me where I can find a Christian family?" He said, "No, they are all Lutherans and Methodists." I replied, "I want to find a Bible Christian." He seemed astonished and finally said, "Just down outside the village you .may find such a man; and, of
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course, I found him. God's Church is visible and known even by the unsaved world.
The Church is the light of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hid.
There is a poem I want to call attention to. I presume you have read it. This poem describes the denominations. It begins: An English Churchman who, with his prayer-book and robe, came down to the river of death; his prayer-book and robe floated down the river, and lie came out on the other side only a Christian. A Quaker came down to the river with his broad-brimmed hat; "thee and thou" and his Quaker garb and all floated down the river, and he came out only a Christian on the other side. A Presbyterian came with his Westminster Confession, and it floated down the river and he came out only a Christian. And so with all the denominations. I would add one verse to that poem: A horse thief came down to the river; his booty floated off down the stream, and he comes out the same as all the rest!
No, my beloved friends, we enter eternity as we leave this world. The heart does not change by death. It must be changed here. And I am glad that there is power in the gospel of Jesus Christ to save from all sin, make clean the inside of the cup and platter that the outside may be clean also. That is God's plan, and what the gospel proposes to do. And if the religious people of Charleston had the inside of the cup and platter clean, every Church door
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would be thrown open, and all denominational lines would be erased. We can't all come together so far as the knowledge of the letter is concerned. There are questions we might differ about. It is plain to me that all rituals belong to the old covenant, and yet there are God's children who don't see everything at once as I do. But if you have the love of God in your heart and you hate sin and are open to conviction for truth, you are my brother and sister. We have no half-brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are born again we are in God's family, complete in Christ.
Our Father in heaven we are thankful for a free place for thy Word, and that when churches are closed against us the balls of earthly courts are thrown open to us and that so many are disposed to gather to hear thy messages for these last and perilous days. Now grant thy blessing as we separate that holy love may unite thy children on earth as in heaven and that these who know Thee not may become savingly acquainted with our God and Christ whom to know is life eternal. May thy precious Word abide with us all in convicting and saving power through Christ, whose word will judge us in the last day and we will give to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost the praise and glory forever. Amen.
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