In 1835 Mr. Campbell issued an extra on order. Its main points are:

      The materials for a church or congregation of Christians must, in the necessity of things, exist before a church can be formed. We have the stones quarried before we put them together in the house. The Lord's house is built of living stones closely laid together and well cemented. Figure apart: the materials for a church are regenerated men and women--disciples of Christ. By regenerated persons we mean those born of water and Spirit--those who, believing that Jesus is the Son of God on the proper evidence, the witness of the Spirit, penitent for their sins, understanding his blood as the only procuring cause of remission, and determined to obey the Lord in all things according to his word; such persons having confessed the Lord by being immersed into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to his commandment, are the proper materials for the congregation of the Lord. [110]

      But the simple existence of such persons, or their being thrown together by accident, does not make them a church or house of God. There is some form of coming together as a church. There must be an agreement expressed in some way. They pledge themselves to One another in the name of the Lord, that they will walk together as becometh saints in the relation of a Christian congregation.

      How this shall be done, or in what form, is not prescribed in the way of a positive statute or by special formalities. It is enough that they give themselves to one another by some token or pledge--"the right hand of fellowship," or some such significant action, the unequivocal token of accord.

      Forms, however, are not to be dispensed with; for every thing that is done must be done in some form; and a becoming form is preferable to an unbecoming or insignificant form. Joshua set up a stone under an oak as a witness that the people agreed to serve the Lord. This was better than no witness, or he would not have adopted it. Forms are not without their use. It is to be presumed that every Jew who for forty years afterwards looked at that stone, would remember that Joshua said when he set it up, "This stone shall be a witness unto us: for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake to us: it shall therefore be a witness to you lest you deny your God."

      Because we have forms without the thing signified, "the form of godliness without the power," some object to all forms as of no value. This is an error. We may have the form of religion without the power; but we can not have the power without the form. Shall we not "lift up holy hands," or "bow the knee," or give "the right hand of fellowship"? because these are but forms, and forms which have been abused and are susceptible of abuse? The giving Of the right hand as a pledge of a covenant or of friendship, is one of the most natural, most ancient, and most common forms in existence. Locke says it was not only the sign of accord among the Jews, but among all the Gentiles. The Apostles themselves, in Jerusalem, used this form, and as a token of accord gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship--not one, but all of them gave their right hands to these two, in sign of their fellowship with the gospel which they preached among the Gentiles, and with them as proclaimers of it.

      Nothing is more comely than when a number of unassociated disciples agree to come together, and to be built together as a church, having heartily and fully expressed their determination to walk together under the Lord, that in token of their determination they give to each other the right hand, and make it a matter of record. In separating themselves from all others, and in giving themselves to one another in the Lord under the New Constitution, the more [111] emphatically, significantly, and solemnly it is done, the better. And should they call others to witness their solemn covenant, it may not be regarded as an unmeaning ceremony; nay, should "they subscribe it with their hands," as did the Jews, who, under the guidance of the reformers Ezra and Nehemiah, resolved to unite in the covenant of their God, no man could condemn them. The names of the signers are yet attached to that covenant, and to the honor of those renowned names their signatures are preserved to this day.¹

      Speaking probably with this in his eye, and prospectively of gospel times, Isaiah says, "One shall say, I am the Lord's; another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel."² Should any society subscribe with their hands to the Lord to walk by the New Institution, as well as give to each other the pledge of the right hand of fellowship, no person could condemn them from Old Testament or New. The more solemnly and impressively Christians come together as a church, and the more significantly and devoutly they receive members into their community the better. We need these helps to our steadfastness, as much as we need to "lift up holy hands," or to "bow the knee," or to speak with earnestness in our prayers in Order to quicken and animate our devotion.

[A. C.]      

Source:

Alexander Campbell. "Order--As Respects the Church." The Millennial Harbinger Extra 6 (October 1835): 491-493.

[MHA2 110-112]