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Alexander Campbell
The Christian Baptist (1889) |
| NO. 4.] | NOVEMBER 2, 1829. |
KING AND QUEEN, VA., May 10, 1829.
MR. EDITOR:--IN your remarks on the 16th Query, in the Christian Baptist, of March last, you say, "Millions have been tantalized by a mock-gospel, which places them as the fable placed Tantalus, standing in a stream, parched with thirst, and the water running to his chin, and so circumstanced that he could not taste it." There is a sleight of hand, or a religious legerdemain, in getting round this matter. In your answer to the 19th Query, in the Christian Baptist of April last, you have, I think, though I dare say without intention on your part, (as I believe the remarks on the 16th Query, were especially intended for the populars,) given us a key to unlock the mystery contained in the sleight of hand business quoted above. The query reads thus: "What does the Saviour mean in these words: 'He said to them, It is your privilege to know the secrets of the reign of God, but to those without, every thing is veiled in parables, that they may not perceive what they look at, or understand what they hear.'" Now you say "he means just what he says. The language is exceedingly plain," &c. And I think so too; and now for the key to unlock the sleight of hand, &c. You say, and I suppose you mean what you say, &c. You say then, "Some persons in a future state will be beyond the reach of mercy; some are in the present; they have shut their eyes, alienated their hearts, seared their consciences, and most stubbornly resisted the Spirit of God. There is a certain crisis beyond which the moral disease becomes incurable, as well as the physical. Some men have survived this crisis for a period. In the physical disease they live hours and days when all physicians know they are incurable. It is not true in physics, that "while there is life there is hope;" for there is life when there is no hope. Neither is it true as the hymn sings:
| "While the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return." |
Now many of the Jews, in the days of Joshua, of the Lord Jesus, and of the apostle Paul, had survived this crisis. The Saviour treated them accordingly; and will he not be as merciful when he sits upon the throne of final judgment, as when he stood on earth, saying, "Come to me, all you weary and heavy burthened?" &c.--Most assuredly he will, yet he will condemn the wicked. Those persons then, from whom he studiously veiled the gospel, were those characters he knew to be such as to exclude them from forgiveness and repentance. This is a fact, and an awful fact, that under the Reign of Favor, it is possible for men to become so depraved, so wicked, so hardened, as to be beyond the reach of cure. Unless this fact be apprehended and regarded, there will occur many passages in both Testaments inexplicable;" and I think so too, Mr. Editor, and thought so too, before I saw your remarks on the 16th Query, and I think the remarks on the 19th Query afford a key, as I said before, to unlock this mysterious sleight of hand! Now the scriptures tell us that man is born into the world as a wild ass's colt; yet vain man would be wise! But the apostle tells us, 'For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe." Now from your remarks, it appears that there were at different periods of the world, men living, from whose hearts the gospel or grace of God, was studiously veiled, while you admit it may be so, at the present time. Now as none of our popular preachers do certainly know, whether there may not be some of this class of persons among the congregations to whom they preach, from whose hearts the Lord studiously veils the gospel, how would you have them to preach? Would you have them to tell a lie? and say, that each and every one of you can, by reading the sacred scriptures, become partakers of the divine nature? When the Lord may have seen fit to suffer a part of them to fulfil that promise, which says, "Behold, you despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your day, which you shall not believe, though a man declare it to you!" Now if it ever pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save those that believe, I have no doubt but it pleases him yet. For the gospel is preached by living witnesses, having the Spirit of Christ, who stand as in Christ's stead, for the purpose of turning the minds of men, towards these things which are able, through divine grace, to make them (from whom the gospel is not veiled) wise to salvation; namely, the word of God and prayer. One thing I do know, that the populars about here, (unless they be hypocrites,) think so, for they labor night and day; and they preach the ancient gospel too, which I heard before I heard of you, Mr. Editor! They preach as they always have done, saying, "The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent you, and believe the gospel." They say too, "Ho! everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters." And they say, too, "Come to me all you weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That "The Spirit and the bride say come, and let him that hears say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him come, and take the water of life freely." They warn people, too, saying, "Take heed lest this come upon you." [596] "Behold, you despisers! and wonder and perish! for I work a work in your day, which you shall not believe, though a man declare it to you!" Now, this is the way the populars preach about here. I do not know how they preach in your part of the world. Now the Lord Jesus veils the ancient gospel which they preach now, just as he used to do, from whom he pleased. According to the command, it is the duty of all men to seek the Lord, for all have sinned. But God has mercy on whom he1 will have mercy, (as you have shown in your remarks in your answer to the 19th Query, quoted above.) A man, therefore, cannot believe2 to the saving of his soul, unless God give him the power; for they that thus believe are blessed.3 Be pleased to give this a place in your paper, and thereby oblige a subscriber, who is
A CONSTANT READER.
Reply to the above.
UPON reviewing the sixteenth and nineteenth queries referred to, it appears that the writer of the foregoing animadversions must have read these queries with a captious intention,--with a jaundiced eye. The sixteenth query explicitly states the exception which is amplified and illustrated in the nineteenth. Under the sixteenth query, p. 530, it is affirmed, "that all men, to whom the gospel is proclaimed, can believe it, if they choose; except such as have sinned so long against the light, as to have fallen into the slumber and blindness denounced against those who wilfully reject the counsel of heaven." Now, the above quotations from the answer to the nineteenth query, page 538, are expressly confined to such characters. "Those persons, then, from whom he studiously veiled the gospel, were those, whose characters he knew to be such, as to exclude them from repentance and forgiveness." But how, in the name of common sense, does the exclusion of such characters, by the righteous judgment of God, from a participation of the blessings of the gospel, furnish a key for the relief of the popular preachers from the religious legerdemain, or sleight of hand business, alleged against them? Does it necessarily follow as a universal truth, that, because some men have so sinned as to render themselves incapable of reformation by the belief and obedience of the gospel, that all, to whom it comes, labor under the same incapacity? Or, does it necessarily follow, that because some have so abused the divine goodness as to render it inconsistent with the immaculate dignity of the divine character to admit them to a participation of the blessings of salvation; that all to whom the gospel comes trust be considered precisely in the same condition? Surely no. And if not, how does it go to relieve the populars from the impeachment of tantalizing mankind with a mock gospel, while they indiscriminately assert the entire incapacity of all, to whom the word of salvation is sent, to believe and obey it? While they assert, that without something more than either the preacher or hearer can do, the gospel can neither be believed nor obeyed; consequently, that it can only minister condemnation, for "he that believes not shall be damned." Did Peter or Paul so preach the gospel either to Jews or Gentiles? Let the populars produce the specimen, and they will stand exonerated. But our correspondent seems mightily concerned for the character of the popular preachers. He alleges their ignorance of the characters of their hearers; and gravely asks, "How would you have them to preach? Would you have them to tell lies? and say, that each and every one of you can," &c. Surely no. We would not have them tell lies; nay, we would not have them even to hazard such a thing; and, therefore, would have them to preach just as did the apostles. When Paul preached to the Antiochians, Acts xiii. we may justly consider him as ignorant of the personal characters of his hearers, as any of our modern populars can be; and yet he did not tell them that they were incapable of believing; nor yet, "that every one of them could, by reading the sacred scriptures, become partakers of the divine nature." Instead of this, he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection, and through faith in him the remission of sins, with certification, "that whosoever believes in him, is justified from all things." And concludes by warning them to beware, lest that which was spoken by the prophets should come upon them; saying, "Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish," &c. Let our modern preachers go and do likewise; and they will neither risk preaching lies; nor yet expose themselves to the just censure of tantalizing their hearers with a mock gospel, as they are in the habit of doing; when, after laboring with apparent fervor to convince and persuade their hearers, as Paul did in the passage above cited, they gravely conclude, by assuring them, that after all that can be said or done on both sides, it will be all lost labor without the intervention of a supernatural influence, over which neither preacher nor hearer has any control; so did not Paul nor any of the apostles. Nor have we a single petition for such an influence on record in the apostolic writings; neither as offered up by the apostles, nor by the churches at their request, in behalf of the success of the gospel in the conversion of sinners.
It seems to have been the happiness of our correspondent to have heard the ancient gospel before he ever heard of the editor of the Christian Baptist. This will not be thought strange, since the said gospel was in the world seventeen hundred years before said editor was born. But the query is, Did he hear it from the populars? If we believe his own account of their character and preaching, we should think not. He styles them "living witnesses, who stand as in Christ's stead." Who preach, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand; repent you, and believe the gospel." According to these characteristics, we should first conclude that they are false witnesses, because they never witnessed one single item of what they preach, if so be it is contained in the bible; for this plain reason, they were born too late. We should next conclude them shameless pretenders, if they assume to be in Christ's stead, either to the church, or to the world; for none ever occupied this place but the apostles, who had power on earth to forgive sins, and to settle for ever all the affairs of his kingdom in this world. And lastly, as to the subject of their preaching, (if our informant be correct,) that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand," they belong not to the gospel dispensation at all, but to the preparatory dispensation of John the Baptist; for this was his text, the subject of his introductory ministration. That the Baptist's gospel was really gospel; that is, good news, in its day, no one will question; also, that it is more ancient, than what we, at this day, call the ancient gospel, will be readily granted; but what [597] is this to the purpose? The ancient gospel, of which we speak, began to be preached on the day of Pentecost, Acts, chap. ii. It announced the coronation of the King and the commencement of his kingdom by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; with the remission of sins, through baptism, to every believing penitent sinner, thenceforth to the end of time, that should take the benefit of the institution, divinely appointed for that purpose. The successive publication of this pure apostolic gospel is what we plead for, without any additions, or intermixture of human opinions. If our correspondent and his populars be to the full possession of this blissful, ancient, apostolic gospel, we should rejoice to know it: but from the spirit and tenor of the above communication, we have our doubts that it is far otherwise. For as already stated in the close of the reply to the sixteenth query, "that only is gospel, which all can believe who wish to believe." Or, in other words, that only is good news to all, which presents a good adapted to the capacity, the condition, and reception of all that choose to receive it. And such most evidently, is the apostolic gospel.
T. W. alias THOS. CAMPBELL.4
Query.
DID Christ die in our law room and stead, according to the popular preaching?
Answer.--This is one of the many ignorant, unprofitable, vain questions, so strongly reprobated by the Apostle in his letters to Timothy and Titus; "whereof come envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds," &c. "rather than godly edification which is in faith."
As an advocate for a genuine scriptural reformation by the re-exhibition of the ancient apostolic gospel and law of Christ, once delivered to the saints, I feel imperiously bound to protest against all such impertinent and unprofitable questions, as have no direct tendency to godly edification, of which there are thousands in this speculative, contentious age. For this purpose I would humbly suggest to all who desire to promote and enjoy this desirable reformation, to meet all religious queries with a direct appeal to the Bible; viz. What does the Bible say? Does it afford any direct and explicit information upon the subject? If so, well. Let it be so. But, if not, we have nothing to do with it. Let it pass as an untaught, unprofitable question, with which we have no concern. By so doing, we shall continue in the Apostles' doctrine; for so they teach.
But if this should not at all times satisfy the querist, we may next for his sake, reasonably appeal to common sense, by inquiring what good, what utility will result from the solution of the question, provided it could be solved with certainty? Would it increase our faith, our hope, our love to God or man? Our piety, temperance, justice, benevolence? Would it make us more devout, more humane, more humble, more pure, more spiritual? In short, would it advance our moral or religious character? If not, why spend time, why exhaust our mental energy in vain speculation? By proceeding thus, we shall avoid those vain janglings and strifes of words, whereof comes envy, &c. so vehemently and repeatedly prohibited by the Apostle. Of this sort is the above query. The gothic barbarism of its form, the awkward abstrusity of its import, consign it to the dark era of monastic ignorance, of scholastic jargon; the bible knows nothing about it; it shocks all common sense. A thousand such questions are not worth a drink of water. The bible furnishes a direct answer, in proper terms to every important question that can be proposed concerning the death of Christ, either by Jew or Gentile. The apostle to the believing Galatians tells them collectively, that "he gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father." To the Jews among them he declares, that "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law; that he might buy off those who were under law;"--under the curse; and, that this was accomplished by the manner of his death; for it is written, "Accursed is every one that hangs on a tree." To the believing Corinthians--that "he died for our sins according to the scriptures." To the believing Cretans--that "he gave himself for us to redeem us from all unrighteousness," &c. &c. What need, then, for the above artificial barbarous question, except to support some abstruse speculative theory? If we want to know why Christ died--why on a cross--for what--for whom--the effects of his death, &c. the bible affords direct pertinent answers to all those interesting questions; and this should suffice. Why should we desire to be vainly wise above what is written?
T. W.
THE following letter from Richmond, Virginia, is from an intelligent and amiable brother, who was called home to the king's own country in August last.
EDITOR.
"RICHMOND, JUNE 12, 1829.
"Mr. Campbell,
"DEAR SIR--YOUR views of the christian religion, as given by one who styles himself "A Lover of Truth," in a communication to the Constitutional Whig, so entirely correspond with mine, that I cannot withhold my mite of encouragement in the dissemination of your opinions. They are based upon the Rock of Ages, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them, nor all the arts of priestcraft subvert them. We are yet in that state of the church represented in Revelations by the beast and his image. The time is coming, however, when the Angel of the Covenant shall preach the everlasting gospel. "Sectarianism is, indeed, the greatest enemy to Christianity. The Spirit of Christ never made a sectarian. Come from what source he may, he is none of Christ's. The apparent good that is done by sectarians in spreading the gospel, arises rather from party emulation, than the love of our Master. Sectarianism has been, is now, and ever will be, so long as the monster lives, a great obstacle to the progress of christianity.--Does this need illustration? Send forth, as missionaries, to a heathen people, a Romish priest, an Episcopal clergyman, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and a Methodist. Each in the pomp and circumstance of his peculiar tenets, styling himself the ambassador of Christ, teaches the christian religion--all in different forms, and none adhering simply to the Book which all profess to follow. What is the conclusion of these, poor heathen, forming a judgment, as all ignorant people do, from the sight?--any other, methinks, than that these ambassadors are sent by one Master for one and the same purpose. And reasoning to prove it would be in vain. Every christian knows that this is a stumbling block to unbelievers, even in christian countries, where the people are comparatively enlightened. The mischiefs of sectarianism are not confined to its [598] effects on the heathen. This monster still tyrannizes in our land of liberty and gospel light, and thousands are kept from the Redeemer by the shaking of his many heads. In this country sects are free, while sectarians are slaves to the prejudices and dogmas of their sect.
"Where is the love of Christ, that when one would not sacrifice a cassock or a wax light, and another would not give a little more water, to save these souls from perishing; lest the pope, the archbishop, the presbytery, or what not, of temporal lordlings, should anathematize? Here the, civil law, as it should do, tolerates all religions: but it does not follow that God will bless idolatry, will-worship, or any departure from the purity and simplicity of his instituted worship. We want missionaries to preach the gospel to our doctors of divinity, right reverend, and reverend clergy, and fashionable--very fashionable laity.
"Sectarians will do some good by uniting on the Bible Society, if they do not counteract it by their sectarian Bible Classes.
"Persevere to the end. You are in a good cause, and the Lord will own and bless your efforts.
| "One that loves you for your work's sake, | |
| "A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST." |
LOUISA, AUGUST 22, 1829.
BROTHER CAMPBELL--YOU will be much surprised, no doubt, to hear of the rebaptism that has lately taken place in this neighborhood, (Louisa county.) In the summer of 1827 sundry persons were immersed into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by brother James M. Bagley. As some of those persons lived in the vicinity of the Fork church, Louisa county, it became a matter of question by said church, whether they should be received into their fellowship.
They finally agreed to refer the matter to the last association. This, however, was not done. One of those persons (a colored man) wishing to join the Fork church, could not be admitted, it seems, because he had been baptized in the "new way," as they said; that is, because the preacher said, "I immerse thee into the name," &c. instead of "I baptize thee in the name," &c. They determined, therefore, to hear his experience over again, and to baptize him in the old way. On the first Sunday in June, he told his experience to their satisfaction, and on the last Saturday in July he was rebaptized by the Rev. Timothy T. Swift!! after being disappointed several times; and the poor negro exclaimed, as he came out of the water, "I an't no Campbellite now"!!5 Is not this a new thing under the sun? And was it not taking the name of the Lord in vain in the most solemn manner? When we consider all the circumstances of this case--that the preacher who immersed this Ethiopian, in 1827, was regularly ordained according to the Baptist order, and a member at that time of a regular Baptist church; a man of intelligence and of exemplary character--I say, when all these things are considered, should we not weep over the ignorance, and prejudice, and bigotry of many in this enlightened age? I am almost ashamed for the Baptists to make this communication. But it is our duty to expose every false way.
N. H.
THE following documents are worthy of an attentive perusal. A very amiable young physician, of good education, and of a clear, discriminating mind, who lately embraced the ancient gospel, is addressed in the following letter from an Episcopalian minister, from whose cathedral he had strayed into the fold of Christ. The parties are both known to myself, and the circumstances relative to his immersion. This letter was written to him by the reverend Episcopal teacher on hearing of his having rode off some hundred miles to be immersed for the remission of his sins. His reply to his former pastor, contains so much good sense and christian independence, that I could wish it to be read by every Episcopalian in the United States. This young disciple, was formerly very taciturn when addressed by his pastor on religious topics, which will explain one allusion in his reply.
ED. C. B.
JULY 9th, 1829.
MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND;--YOU will not, I trust, take it amiss if I express to you the surprize and regret with which I heard from your father, of the change in your religious sentiments. But my design in troubling you with this, is not a controversial one. I merely wish to set before your excellent judgment a few reasons for questioning the propriety of your course, even supposing that your conclusion were a right one.
You are the eldest of a numerous family; I believe I may add, the best endowed both by nature and by education, and engaged in a highly respectable profession. That you should be looked up to in a great degree by your brothers and sisters, and peculiarly cherished by your parents, is, under these circumstances, a very rational consequence. That you are so, is a fact with which you must be perfectly acquainted. I do not myself know any young man, therefore, to whose opinions a more ready and favorable attention might have been expected to be paid by his immediate connexions, and certainly none who could have calculated more fully on being allowed, after due consultation, to have his own way.
In the honor due to our father and mother, I am sure you will agree that a sacred regard to their feelings and their principles must, of necessity, be included; and that a son, who is at once warmly beloved and greatly respected by them, is the last who could, with any piety or justice, act without regard to either, or show, by any decision of his, the slightest contempt of their opinions. But in abandoning the church of your father, in which you had taken your place as a member in full communion, at your parents request, and in doing this without one word of previous communication with them--without one attempt to debate the propriety of the measure with those towards whom the word of God directs every reasonable manifestation of gratitude and kind consideration--without a single exhibition of any anxiety to prepare them for the change, or of solicitude to lighten the blow about to be inflicted on their comfort and joy in their eldest and favorite child. Have you done as you would, one day, wish your son to do by you? [599] Have you acted according to the spirit of the gospel? Have you not been led by your zeal to do a positive evil, at least in the mode pursued to secure your object? And are you sure that your course has produced to others the hundredth part of the pleasure, that it has inflicted pain, on those whose love for you is probably greater than that of the whole united world besides?
I trust you will pardon the frankness of this expostulation. I am a father, and therefore may presume that I can estimate the misery of a parent who sees and mourns over the estrangement of a darling son, much more correctly than you can yet do. God grant that you may never experience the terrible reality of such a visitation. But beholding, as I did, the grief of your father; hearing him say that he had passed a sleepless and a wretched night in consequence of your conduct in this matter, and observing the tears of strong emotion which his manhood could not restrain while he spoke, I could easily conjecture the state of your mother's mind, and thought it a duty to intrude myself no longer as a pastor, but as a christian friend, to ask you whether you are not bound in conscience and in principle, to acknowledge your error in taking such a step without consulting them? Whether you are not bound by the precepts of Christ Jesus to reconcile yourself to your parents by every acknowledgment consistent with truth?
I do not mean at all to impeach the soundness of your religious views. My sincere desire is to have you unmolested and entirely free, even from any unwelcome solicitation on that subject. But I do beseech you not to suffer this breach between you and your parents to remain unclosed for want of a speedy and thorough effort to heal it. In the mode of your procedure, you have been exceedingly to blame, because this mode was a plain declaration of want of confidence, want of kindness, want of reverence, want of filial submission. I confine myself to this single point, believing it a plain one, and in the hope that, however your light may exceed mine to the other doctrines of christianity, we shall agree in the practical application of the moral law: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you."
May the good spirit of the Most High direct and bless you.
| Your affectionate friend, &c. | |
| J. |
Reply to the above--Letter I.
JULY 15th, 1829.
MY DEAR FRIEND,--AS it would be highly inconsistent with my profession to take amiss any friendly attempt to convince me of a supposed error, I am very far from doing so in regard to that which you have made. On the contrary, I have to thank you for endeavoring to convince me that I was at fault in not consulting my parents upon my choice of religion, although my own heart as yet acquits me. As I cannot, however, exonerate thyself from the charge before others, without declaring the motives which prompted me to that choice, it becomes necessary for me to offer to you an apology for preferring Christianity to Episcopalianism. An apology for becoming a Christian!--and to a professed minister of the gospel! This is strange--but circumstances require it!
As old Mr. Wrenshall set forth in a petition which he wrote for a tailor, that "he had been born and bred a tailor; and, notwithstanding all the vicissitudes of human life, was a tailor still," I so, I suppose, it happened with me, that I was born and bred an Episcopalian; but, more mutable than the tailor, I am not an Episcopalian still. At least as soon as I knew my right hand from my left, I found myself an Episcopalian--I don't know how--perhaps by hereditary descent; and full, too, of sectarian prejudice, derived probably from the same source from which the children of Papists derive their Babylonish propensities. I was bred an Episcopalian, as far as compulsory attendance on Episcopalian ceremonies could constitute me one, and lived, until my sixteenth year, without religion and without God in the world.
About this time a beloved Christian brother (not an Episcopalian) directed my thoughts and affections, in some degree, towards the Lord Jesus, as the Rose of Sharon that had no thorn; and the occasional reading of the scriptures, and a more particular attention to prayer and to sermons was the consequence. After some time, being taught to consider the Episcopal church as my spiritual mother, and supposing (like any other silly child) that she was the handsomest and best in the world, I introduced myself, at my father's request and yours, to what I then considered her privileges. And although I believed in the doctrine of the scriptures, and wished to obey it, yet, having no certain testimony in my heart or life that my sins were forgiven--that I was born of water and Spirit, and united to Christ, (and I could not have this testimony because Episcopacy had already carefully deprived me of the only one the scriptures have appointed, and that, too, at a time when, on account of infancy, I was unable to agree to, or resist, the measure,) the Lord's supper was to me rather a punishment, than a comfort, because I did not realize my title to it; and yet I was unwilling to disobey what I knew was a command of God, and my conscience was sometimes quieted with the Episcopalian or Pharisaical reflection, that I also had gone through all the preliminary ceremonies of the church, and had therefore as good a right to her ordinances as any other Episcopalian. Still no motive had so strong an influence over my conduct in this matter, as the fear of disobeying my earthly parent.
The fear of the Lord, however, soon began to sink deeper into my soul, and I made stronger efforts to get rid of the burden of sin--but in vain; and my life afterwards was compounded of long seasons of torpid religious despondency, "that frost of the soul, that binds up all its powers, and congeals life in perpetual sterility;" a species of hopeless carelessness, if I may so speak, alternated with transient glimpses of the happiness which religion would have afforded me if I had possessed it in its purity.
"When I was a child I thought as a child, I acted as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things"--that is to say, when I began to look about me, I became weaned from my spiritual mother, because I perceived that she was neither so well favored nor so good as I was taught to believe. And it seemed to me that a simple rule of judgment would apply. As it would be unwise to consider a lady identical with the house she lived in, the garments she wore, the professions she made, or to judge of her by these, it would be equally so to esteem a church to consist in a meeting-house, a liturgy, or a profession, or by these to estimate her real character. A church is composed of members, and by their conduct the purity of the church (i. e. their purity) must be decided. After musing on these things and reading in [600] the Book of God, as I reclined on the verdant carpet of nature, beneath the luxuriant foliage of a spreading tree, I insensibly fell into a reverie. I beheld at a distance an elegant mansion, whose gothic minarets and battlements broke against the light, and whose lofty towers raised themselves towards the clouds. Presently a lady, with her train-bearer, descended from the building and entered into a magnificent carriage, in waiting at the door, and attended by a retinue of servants, which then rapidly approached me, and halted near the place where I was. The lady immediately alighted and came towards me. Her person seemed to be adorned with the gorgeous trappings of fashion; her step was slow and measured; and the striking affectation of her manners could only have been acquired in what I was accustomed to hear called the highest and politest circles. She thus addressed me: "My son, why have you forsaken my house? Why have you not appeared with me on the appointed days, to render praises to my spouse and seek his face? Is not Christ my spouse? Do I not enjoy his smiles? Behold I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. My servants are many; they are clothed in silk and fine linen; I reward them liberally, and they praise me, for I am pure and holy." So you did teach me, I replied, that you were the spouse of Christ; and in him who is altogether lovely, my soul delighted; therefore did I seek his face with you; but I perceived that he hid his face from you, and that I could not gain his smiles. You gave me a little book that I might praise him and call to him by reading therein; but he told me that out of the abundance of my heart my mouth must speak, and not out of the abundance of your little book. Nay, your own speech betrays you. Say you, "I am pure and holy?" and does not your little book testify of you that you are a "miserable sinner?" that you have "no health in you?" and that the "burden of your sins is intolerable?" And truly you seem to mourn grievously for your iniquities. Would not sackcloth and ashes become your situation better than this gorgeous apparel? And I beheld also that hatred and enmity, revilings, drunkenness, profanity, and every evil prevailed in the conduct of most of your children. O! you daughter of Babylon! if he whom you call your spouse, had sanctified you, would not your children be holy? You did profess to appear before God one day in the week, while not only then, but during the whole week, your actions showed that your heart was far from him. Therefore, did I refuse to take any longer your counsel, but resolved to follow the directions of him who could not deceive me. My Lord smiled upon me, and in his presence my soul takes delight: therefore do I rejoice in the God of my salvation, who "never leaves me nor forsakes me." Perceiving that pride curled her lip into an insulting smile of incredulity, I added, "You know not that you are wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Repent of your wickedness, therefore, and obey Christ. I now observed anger sparkling in her eyes; and her servants, emulous of each other, began to raise their voices in her eulogy, and withal occasioned such a din that it awoke me.
I could not deny that the Episcopalians, and the Presbyterians, and other sects had faith; but I perceived that it was Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and sectarian faith, producing nothing but Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and sectarian works; that each would boast in his own scheme and hate his neighbor. I therefore concluded it was high time for me to apply to a teacher sent from God, and to take the holy scriptures as my guide. Believing that my Heavenly Father meant what he said, and that in every thing essential to salvation his words were plain, 1 threw behind me all sectarianism, and took up the bible. And I took it up with the resolution that what I discovered to be my Father's will, I would endeavor to perform: and if the idea of consulting any human being about the propriety of doing what I believed to be the command of God, had ever entered my thoughts, it would have done so only to be discarded as a suggestion of Satan.
Considering the Christian church as it was first formed by the Apostles, and the ancient gospel as preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost, I perceived that faith in Jesus, as the Son of God and Saviour of sinners, was the first duty; the second, repentance; and the third, baptism for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit; and the fourth, that we should walk in newness of Life.
Having been all my life dwelling upon the two first principles of the doctrine of Christ, i. e. repentance from dead works and faith towards God, (and, as far as my observation extends, this little primer constitutes the entire library of most sectarians, and the consequence is, that very few of them ever learn to read,) it became necessary for me now to think of baptism. I need not detail the progress of that examination which forced me to conclude that infant sprinkling was not baptism. Suffice it to say, that both in the Septuagint and New Testament, I found that the words baptw and baptizw signify to immerse, or dip; and that to translate them thus would make complete sense and harmony of the passage in which they occur; whereas, to introduce the idea of sprinkling, would frequently make absolute nonsense of scripture, (ex. gr. Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5. Coloss. ii. 12, &c.) I also found that faith and repentance were absolute prerequisites for christian baptism, if we wished it to be of any benefit to us, and that the word of God commanded me to be baptized for the remission of my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Coming to this conclusion, therefore, I could not conceive that I was bound, by any principle, to consult my parents, or any body else, about the propriety of fulfilling this duty, any more than Abraham was to consult his wife Sarah about the propriety of sacrificing Isaac in obedience to the command of God.
Besides this, my father's "feelings and principles" in religion, which you say, are worthy of "sacred regard," I knew to be strictly and exclusively Episcopalian; and, as such, I considered them unworthy of that regard. For I do not accustom myself to pay "sacred regard" to any thing which I do not believe sacred and holy; and I cannot admit without reservation, a principle that sanctifies the "feelings and principles" of all parents from those who cause their children to pass through the fire to Moloch, or set them beneath the wheels of the image of Juggernaut, to those who bring them up in papal superstition, or impiously presume to "sprinkle them into Christ's death," (as their traditions would make the scriptures say,) while the parents themselves, at the very time, though they may go to church, and the children, as soon as they are able, show by their works of unrighteousness whose children the word of God declares them to be.
I might, indeed, have gone as Lot went to his sons-in-law, and said, "Up, get you out of this place!" but I would have "seemed as one that [601] mocked to them;" and I feared to rouse in my father those violent passions which it seems Episcopalianism has no power to subdue, and by announcing my intention to enlist them in the use of every means against its fulfilment; thus giving occasion to sin, and finally obliging me to commit a positive act of disobedience.
And taking another view of the matter: religion never was the subject of conversation between me and my father, and I never perceived him to be interested in it. As long as I remained quiet in that net which human ingenuity and the prejudice of education had thrown around him and his forefathers, and in which I was retained from my infancy; as long as I "went to church," as the phrase is, all was well. My being a christian seemed to be a secondary consideration, or rather no consideration at all. I know not how he could expect me to consult him in a matter in which I never saw him interested, and about which he never conversed with me.
Obeying the command, therefore, without consulting man, I received, to use the words of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith, and the declaration of the 27th Article in Episcopacy, "the sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of regeneration, of the remission of sins, and of giving up to God through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life." And, oh! that all poor sinners might experience with me that the promises of God are "yea and amen;" that he will bless them who trust in him: that he is able to forgive sin; that the yoke of Christ is easy and his burden light: and that the Holy Spirit is indeed "a Comforter." "Why should the children of a King go mourning all their days?" Why not lay their sins at the feet of Jesus, and flounder no more in the slough of Despond, but wash in the laver that stands between the tabernacle and the altar, that, as kings and priests, they may serve the Lord in the beauty of holiness. "Praise the Lord, O my soul! and all that is within me praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul! and forget not all his benefits: who forgives all your sin, and heals all your infirmities. Who saves your life from destruction, and crowns you with mercy and loving kindness."
To conclude the matter, I have thus escaped quietly from these Episcopalian and Presbyterian nets; and my father is displeased. How much greater you may judge would his displeasure have been, if my deliverance had been accomplished in defiance of his efforts to prevent it. I rejoice in the liberty and light of the gospel, and in communion with the church of Christ, where we are all brethren, and where we enjoy all that blessedness that is promised to those whom men revile, and slander, and persecute. Unfortunate sectarians! the world does not hate or persecute you; for the world loves its own. I am happy; but my father is angry. And this is strange--that he should mourn for me--that my joy has become his sorrow, and my happiness his displeasure. Do his Episcopalian "feelings and principles" teach him to show his affection for his children by rejoicing when they are in darkness and distress, and have the "spirit of bondage continually to fear," and can enjoy no comfort in religion, no confidence towards God, no certainty of remission of sins, no power to walk in newness of life; and to mourn when they are joyful in the God of their salvation; when they have received the spirit of adoption, and rejoice in the glorious liberty of the children of God?
The free and plain manner in which I have declared my motives, may, perhaps give occasion to offence and misconstruction. My wish has not been to offend, but to speak the truth; and that I may not be misconstrued, I will observe that my observations have not been directed against any individual, but against that principle of parental dictation in religious matters which my father claims as his right. This may do among Episcopalians, who, from the Bishop to the sexton, seem to me to delight in doing all things "by authority" of men. But I am not amenable to their rules. I call no man master, for I think I have but one master, even Christ, and that to his own master every one must stand or fall. My affection for my parents is unabated. To my heavenly Father my first obedience and love is due, and in heavenly things he alone should be consulted. To my earthly parents my obedience in things not interfering with rights of conscience, and abundant gratitude is due; since they labored for my comfort in temporal things, and incurred expense, and bestowed opportunities of education on me, more than I deserved or duty required of them. In making changes in my situation as it regards earthly things, therefore, their "feelings and principles" I would consult, and consider that I can only show my gratitude for their kindness by rendering to them that assistance in all things which the Lord will enable me to afford, and paying to them that respect which, as my earthly parents, they are entitled to receive. You seem to think that my mother regrets my happiness more than my father. You are in error. She rejoices in it. One presents the picture of "Affection conquered by Pride;" the other, "Pride conquered by affection." I think I have acted in this matter exactly as I would be done by, and that I could not set a better example to my brothers and sisters, than that of consulting and obeying God rather than man.
As to your insinuation that a desire to please others influenced me, I can only deny it. The person you allude to never advised me to receive baptism, or to leave the Episcopal church, though he had ample opportunity to do so. It gives him pleasure, indeed, to behold--nay, "there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents." Why do you and my father mourn upon such an occasion? This denial, however, I suppose will not avail with my father; and I can only say, that against blindness of prejudice, violence of passion, and obstinacy of unbelief, I will not condescend to defend either him or myself in any other way than by simply declaring that such stories are slanderous and false.
Finally, lest any thing I have said should cause the church of Christ to be misrepresented, I will observe, that for many years, in different parts of Europe, a few of the sheep of Christ, in various sects, have recognized their Master's voice, and refused to listen to the voice of a stranger: from some congregations, two or three--from others, eight or ten, separated themselves, and resolved to take the scriptures as their guide. All these appear to have fallen on the same plan, without any knowledge of each other, i. e. the plan formed by the Apostles. And this "wild fire," as you like to call it, (in contradistinction, I suppose, to the glimmering taper of Episcopacy,) is now making its way in America. In many districts Babylon's bells are tolling, and many of the clergy have been released from the bondage of sectarianism, and are now preaching the ancient gospel; while others are terrified because the hope of their gains is in danger of being lost." We have the same God, the same Saviour, the same Spirit, the same Bible, the same [602] facts, that the people of God scattered among the sects, have. All are admitted among us who profess faith in Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of sinners, and have the seal of remission of sins through his precious blood; and every one is immediately expelled and delivered over to Satan, whose behavior does not correspond to this profession. Nor can a disorderly person be long undiscovered; for, as under the reign of Jesus the blind see, and the deaf hear; so also do the dumb speak, (of which miracle you yourself will acknowledge me to be a living example;) and being thus possessed of all our faculties, we keep a watchful eye over our own conduct and that of our brethren. We have also the same liturgy and confession of faith which the church had in the days of the Apostles; and we can only say to the sects, "Show us your faith by your liturgy and your confessions of faith, and we will show you our faith by our works."
I might speak more fully upon many points, but as the interruptions of business have already, detained me, and the letter has extended beyond ordinary limits, I will close by observing that your knowledge of "this way" is very limited. You merely, seem to know that "it is every where spoken against" And now do not reason, religion, and prudence concur in saying to you, do not speak or act ignorantly; "for, if it be of God you cannot overthrow it, lest haply you be found to fight against God?"
That the purity and simplicity of the ancient gospel may cease to be foolishness to men, and that the elected by God may be enabled to walk worthy of their high vocation, is my prayer to him who is able and willing to save all who come to him through Christ our Lord.
DISCIPULUS.
Essay on the Eighth day.
"AS EVERY thing, belonging to the New Dispensation was prefigured and shadowed forth under the Old, so we shall find that different typical intimations were given of this change of the day of weekly rest. The eighth day is particularly distinguished throughout the Old Testament. Circumcision was to be administered to children on the eighth day. The first born of cattle which belonged to the Lord, were not to be received till the eighth day of their age. On the eighth day, and not before, they were accepted in sacrifice. On the eighth day the consecration of Aaron and his sons was completed, and he entered on his office as priest.--The cleansing of the leprosy, which was typical of cleansing from sin, took place, after various ceremonies, on the eighth day. The same was the case as to those who had issues, and also respecting the cleansing of the Nazarites. On the feast of tabernacles, the eighth day was a Sabbath, and was called the great day of the feast. On the first day of this feast thirteen bullocks were offered; on the other six days the number of bullocks was decreased by one each day; so that, on the seventh day, there were only seven bullocks offered. But on the eighth day the number was reduced to one bullock, after which these sacrifices were ended. At the dedication of the temple, when it was completed or perfected, the ark of the covenant being placed in it, Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him; and, on the eighth day, they made a solemn assembly. Ezekiel, in his vision of the city and temple and land, towards the end of his prophecies, says, "Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it, and they; shall consecrate themselves; and when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priest shall make your offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, says the Lord." Now let the correspondence of the spirit with the letter be observed. "On the eighth day, when Jesus rose from the dead, those who were dead in their sins, and the uncircumcision of their flesh, were quickened together with him in whom they are circumcised. On that day he was received as the first born from the dead. On the eighth day he was accepted as a sacrifice. On the eighth day, when he was "consecrated for ever more," he entered on his office as a priest; for while on earth he was not a priest. On the eighth day he cleansed his people from sin. On the eighth day, having by one sacrifice for ever perfected those that are sanctified, he made an end of sin offering. On the eighth day, the temple of his body being raised up, and perfected through sufferings, his disciples, on that day, hold solemn assemblies. And upon the eighth day, and so forward, he, as that priest who having consecrated himself for evermore, entered into the holiest of all, and who "ever lives to make intercession" for his people, stands at the altar, as the Apostle John beheld him, having a golden censer with much incense, which he offers with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne."--Haldane's Evidences.
Moses.
"MOSES at his birth, was saved from the general slaughter of the infants of the Israelites which took place by a tyrant's command, and was afterwards compelled to flee into a foreign country to save his life. Moses, accredited by the signs and miracles which he was enabled to perform--the meekest of men--and the most distinguished prophet, whom the Lord knew face to face, was the deliverer of his people from Egyptian bondage. He was the lawgiver of Israel. He was their leader in their journey through the wilderness to the promised land; and above all, the mediator of that covenant which God made with them. When receiving the law, he fasted forty days and forty nights; and when he descended from the mountain, his face shone with the reflected glory of God. In these, and in many other respects, Moses resembled and prefigured Jesus Christ, with whom also his parents were compelled to flee into a foreign land, to escape from a tyrant's slaughter of the infants in the place where he was born; who was meek and lowly, but approved by signs and miracles which God did by him. He is the great deliverer of his People from the bondage of sin and Satan. He is their lawgiver--the mediator of the new covenant made with the house of Israel--the leader and captain of their salvation, leading them through the wilderness of this world, in which they are pilgrims and strangers, to the promised land of rest, which Canaan prefigured. In entering upon his work, he fasted forty days and forty nights. When he was on the holy mount, "his face did shine as the sun." Jesus Christ was that prophet whom Moses foretold God was to raise up like to him. "Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were spoken after, but Christ as a son over his own house." "Let us search," says one, "all the records of universal history, and see if we can find a man who was so like to Moses as Christ, or so like to Christ as Moses. If we cannot find such a one, then we have found him of whom Moses in the [603] law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God."
"One thing further respecting Moses may be remarked. On account of his sinning against God, he was not permitted to enter the promised land, of which he was exceedingly desirous, and he earnestly besought the Lord on this account. The sentence, however, remained unchanged, and he was commanded to say no more on that matter. It was necessary that his death, as the mediator of that first covenant, should intervene before Israel could enter the land of promise, otherwise an important part of the typical resemblance between him and the Lord Jesus, as the mediator of the new covenant, could not have been exhibited. Through sin Moses forfeited this privilege; and, on account of sin, the death of their mediator is necessary, in order that the people of God may be put in possession of their eternal inheritance. From this part of the history of Moses, christians may derive a very useful lesson respecting the refusal of God to comply with his earnest prayer on this subject. In reference to spiritual things, they cannot be too importunate. It is the will of God, even their sanctification, and in this respect they may ask what they will and it shall be done to them. But as to temporal matters, they are very bad judges of what is best for them. And were many of their petitions on that head to be granted, it would prove their ruin, or the granting them would be contrary to some of the great but unknown purposes of God. Moses, although he wrote of Christ, was not fully aware of the correspondence, in all its circumstances, of the part he was acting with the history of the Messiah, which was intended "for a testimony to the things which were to be spoken after," otherwise he would not have urged this request as he did."--Haldane's Evidences.
[TCB 596-604]
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Alexander Campbell
The Christian Baptist (1889) |