Rejecting and Returning

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     The history of all great revolutionary religious movements indicates that they are given impetus because of the intolerable conditions existing when they are launched. Under the influence of leaders who have grown tired of the state of affairs, and motivated by a desire to reform the prevailing order, men risk their all in the crusade for better things. But as time goes on, contact with the world around erodes away the spirit of reform, brings about adoption of those means and methods which destroy the original purpose, and the movement slows down and finally stagnates into sectarian tendencies until other men arise who have the courage to inaugurate another reformatory movement. Every reformation is corrective in nature and is called into existence by the prevalent condition of the times.

     We think it can be shown that each movement is not only part of a cycle but that each passes through the same phases and in almost the same sequence. If this can be proven it would enable the careful analyst to determine at what juncture of the movement he stood at any given time and also to predict the coming phase into which it would pass. It is not our intention at present to develop this theme but there is a point we would like to mention. A great many become discouraged when they realize that every reform has terminated in the formation of additional parties. To them it appears that we are merely "going in circles." We are convinced, however, that while each reformation is cyclical it is also helical. It is on an ascending spiral. Thus, with each reformation we are lifted a little closer to the ideal. We do not "come out where we went in," but we emerge on a higher plane. The essential attitude of each generation should be one of restoration because all succeeding generations stand on the shoulders of those which preceded it.

     Christianity itself was the greatest revolution of all. It was introduced into the world at a time when hopelessness reigned with full sway over the hearts of men. Canon Farrar in his book "The Early Days of Christianity" says, "Gluttony, caprice, extravagance, ostentation, impurity, rioted in the heart of a society which knew no other means by which to break the monotony of its weariness, or alleviate the anguish of its despair." At the risk of extending our remarks unduly I would like to share with our readers quotations from two men of note who lived during the time of the apostles.

     Seneca, the Stoic philosopher, was born in Cordoba, Spain, probably in the same year that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. His brother was Gallio (Acts 18:12). Through the influence of Agrippina, wife of Claudius, Seneca was appointed tutor for her son, Nero. About the same time (perhaps in the same

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year) when Peter was announcing to Cornelius, the Roman army officer, that the gospel was the only remedy for sin and evil, Seneca wrote:

     "The world is filled with crimes and vices. Things are too far gone to be healed by any regimen. Men are battling for the palm of reprobate manners. Each day lust waxes and shame wanes. Trampling down all that is good and sacred, lust hies it whithersoever it will. Vice no longer shuns the light. So barefaced is wickedness become, and so wildly does it flare up in all bosoms, that innocence is not to say rare, but is nowhere found.

     Our next witness is Pliny, known as "The Elder" to distinguish him from his nephew who is called "The Younger." He was born about the time that Jesus was nineteen years old, and became famous as a historian and naturalist. His great encyclopedia of nature, consisting of thirty-seven volumes, was dedicated to Titus, son of the emperor Vespasian, and the man who destroyed Jerusalem in A. D. 70. Pliny died of suffocation in the eruption of Vesuvius in A. D. 79 when Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed. Pliny wrote thus:

     "All religion is the offspring of necessity, weakness and fear. What God is--if in truth he be any Being distinct from the world--it is beyond the compass of man's understanding to know. But it is a foolish delusion springing from human weakness and pride, to imagine that such an infinite Spirit would concern himself with the petty affairs of men. The vanity of man and his insatiable desire for existence, have led him also to dream of a life after death. A being full of contradictions, he is the most wretched of creatures, since no other has wants transcending the bounds of his nature. Man's nature is a lie, uniting the greatest poverty with the greatest pride. Among such great evils the greatest good that God has bestowed upon man is the power of taking his own life."

     Into such an age of frustration and doubt the Christian concept brought faith, hope and love. Under the powerful motivation of these three, a tottering paganism went down and the whole world became conscious of a new humanity made possible through Jesus. The sad aftermath brought about by the ambitions and intrigues of men and resulting in the hierarchical domination of the clergy is too well known to our readers to detail it again. Suffice it to say that by the dawn of the sixteenth century Christianity had become so abused that the world was again wallowing in a slough of immorality and oppression. Of this period the eminent Irish historian W. E. H. Lecky remarks:

     "Wherever the eye was turned, it encountered the signs of disorganization, of corruption, and of decay. For the long night of medievalism was now drawing to a close, and the chaos that precedes resurrection was supreme."

     The providence of God raised up men to meet the challenges of the age, and the Protestant Reformation shook Rome to her very roots. Already, John Wycliffe, a professor in Oxford University, had laid the foundation for reform. He has been described as "the unsparing assailant of abuses, the boldest and most indefatigable of controversialists, the first reformer who dared when deserted and alone, to question and deny the creed of Christendom around him, to break through the tradition of the past, and, with his last breath, to assert the freedom of religious thought against the dogmas of the papacy."

     Swiftly the seed of reformation was borne by the winds which swept across Europe to the hearts of honest men. Time would fail us to tell of the labors of Hus and Jerome (of Prague) in Bohemia; of Luther and Melancthon in Germany; of Zwingli and Oecolampadius in German Switzerland; of Calvin, Farel and Beza in French Switzerland. Unfortunately, Rome had left her mark, and all too frequently the reformers produced a union of church and state and sought to enforce their own creeds and interpretations by the secular arm. In spite of their affirmation of the principle of the right of private judgment, their words were not always backed up by their practice. Lecky writes, "The first Protestants were as undoubtedly intolerant as the Catholics." So the stage was again set for another attempt at reform. J. B. Briney writes:

     "The testimony thus given shows that not only was Protestant Christendom divided into various and warring factions

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at the beginning of the 19th century, contrary to the prayer of Christ, and in contravention of apostolic teaching, but that theology had shrouded the gospel in mysticism, and that men, instead of looking to and relying upon the promises of the word of God, were groping in darkness in search of something foreign to the New Testament plan of salvation, and depending upon their feelings for evidence of the pardon of their sins and acceptance with God. The plain teaching of the gospel was shoved aside and ignored, and the speculations and philosophies of men were thrust upon the consciences of the people, and belief in, and allegiance to them demanded. Confusion reigned everywhere, and spiritual darkness was dense. Presently people began to tire of these conditions, and noticed that they were out of harmony with Bible teaching. The times were ripe for another forward movement, and men were ready to lead it. Whenever God providentially gets the people ready for a great work he providentially furnishes men to take it up and carry it on. This is made very plain by the facts of universal history. It is especially manifest from the facts of church history."

     Alexander Campbell revealed the definite objectives of the work in which he labored. Without specific aims toward which to strive any religious movement must soon go adrift. The purpose must be one of sufficient value and worth to command all of the spiritual resources of those engaged in it, else it will flounder helplessly. Campbell wrote:

     "Next to our personal salvation, two objects constituted the summum bonum, the supreme good, worthy of the sacrifice of all temporalities. The first was the union, peace, purity and harmonious cooperation of Christians, guided by an understanding enlightened by the Holy Scriptures; the other the conversion of sinners to God. Our predilections and antipathies on all religious questions arose from, and were controlled by, those all-absorbing interests."

     The first object was to be accomplished by a restoration of the primitive order as manifested by the apostles. In the "Declaration and Address" Thomas Campbell put it thus:

     "Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be, that rejecting human opinions and inventions of men as of any authority, or as having any place in the church of God, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things, returning to and holding fast by the original standard, taking the Divine word alone for our rule, the Holy Spirit for our teacher and guide to lead us into all truth, and Christ alone as exhibited in the word for our salvation; and that by so doing we may be at peace among ourselves, follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord."

     Note well the two words "rejecting" and "returning." These were the watchwords of the restoration pioneers. There were certain opinions and inventions which had been adopted and enforced dogmatically. These had created schism in the ranks of the believers. It was proposed to purge the church of God of all such opinions and inventions as having no place in it. But these could not have been accepted as "of some authority" unless there was first a lessening of respect for the proper authority which was considered to be "the Divine word alone."

     The first of these words (rejecting) is essential to reformation but the second

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(returning) is not necessarily so. Both are involved in restoration. Reformation may be achieved by changing into a new and improved form but restoration has to do with a return to a former state. Those who are restorers are always reformers, but reformers are not always restorers. One passage in Isaiah incidentally portrays restoration. "And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning (Isa. 1:26). Restoration simply means returning to conditions "as at the first" or "as at the beginning." One cannot restore an order by "restoring" something that was not in its original state. Neither can he restore it by retaining those things which have been added since and by other authority. There must be both a rejecting" and a "returning" and Thomas Campbell recognized this fact. The unity of believers was to be secured by a restoration of things "as at the first." By the simple expedient of going back beyond the introduction of all the divisive opinions and inventions peace was to be restored. In order to maintain that peace no opinion in the future would be introduced as a test of fellowship and a source of friction.

     One of the first considerations was to secure a blueprint of the primitive ekklesia in its functioning and service. Without this men would not be able to agree upon what must be rejected and what retained. They could not return to something unless they knew when they had reached it. Alexander Campbell realized this and on August 3, 1823, published what he described as "a cursory view of some of the leading features of the christian religion, exhibited in prospective, and in actual existence at the first institution." Among other things he wrote:

     "Their churches were not fractured into missionary societies, bible societies, education societies; nor did they dream of organizing such in the world. The head of a believing household was not in those days a president or manager of a board of foreign missions; his wife, the president of some female education society; his eldest son, the recording secretary of some domestic bible society; his eldest daughter, the corresponding secretary of a mite Society; his servant maid, the vice-president of a rag society; and his little daughter, a tutoress of a Sunday school. They knew nothing of the hobbies of modern times. In their church capacity alone they moved. They neither transformed themselves into any other kind of association, nor did they fracture and sever themselves into divers societies. The[y] viewed the church of Jesus Christ as the scheme of Heaven to ameliorate the world; as members of it, they considered themselves bound to do all they could for the glory of God and the good of men. They dare not transfer to a missionary society, or bible society, or education society, a cent or a prayer, lest in doing so they should rob the church of its glory, and exalt the inventions of men above the wisdom of God."

     In view of the above it is difficult to

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believe that twenty-six years later Alexander Campbell would become the first president of the American Christian Missionary Society, a position he was to hold for sixteen years. His name is the first to appear on the "Act of Incorporation" in which he and a number of other men "with their successors, be, and hereby are constituted and made a body corporate and politic, with perpetual succession, by the name of the American Christian Missionary Society, and by that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in all courts of law and equity, and are hereby invested with all the powers and privileges necessary for conducting home and foreign missions, in advancement of the Christian religion."

     A review of the statements contained in his "leading features of the christian religion...at its first constitution" indicates the following as his ideas concerning such societies:

     I. The primitive Christians did not dream of organizing missionary societies in the world.

     2. They would have regarded the support of such a society by either prayer or finance as robbing the church of its glory.

     3. They would have considered such support as "exalting the inventions of men above the wisdom of God."

     It is obvious that many who were led to espouse the restoration movement upon the basis of such a plea would become disturbed in mind by the apparent abandonment of it. But the steps leading to the organization of the society were so gradual that others little realized their significance. There were but few diversions from the unremitting toil of pioneer life. The people were widely scattered and it was difficult to satisfy the craving for human association and fellowship. One means of answering the need was found in the camp meeting. To it people came with their families from distant points. They sang and prayed together and heard the more talented and informed speakers of the day. In their anxiety for their neighbors to share in the messages they frequently selected a gifted man to travel as their evangelist, with the various congregations bearing his expenses. The evangelist made a report to the gathering the following year and subscriptions were raised to carry on his labors for another twelve months.

     Out of this arrangement arose an insistent demand for greater organization to plan evangelistic work and assure its fulfillment. Some of the states began to hold annual meetings at which delegates of the various congregations made reports of membership, accessions to the faith, and other statistics. In 1842, Alexander Campbell wrote: "We can do comparatively but little in the great missionary field of the world, either at home or abroad, without co-operation." He concluded, "We can have no thorough co-operation without a more ample, extensive and thorough church organization."

     David S. Burnet became seriously ill in 1845 and promised God that if his life were spared he would devote his energies to promoting an organization to take the gospel to the world. He used his Christian Age to urge co-operation in missionary activity. In May, 1849, Alexander Campbell wrote: "Reformation and annihilation are not with me now, as formerly, convertible and identical terms. We want occasional, if not stated, deliberative meetings on questions of expediency in adaptation to the ever changing fortune and character of society." On October 24-28, in that same year, a national conference was called and more than one hundred and eighty delegates convened in the meetinghouse at the corner of Eighth and Walnut Streets, in Cincinnati, Ohio. During these five days the constitution was drawn up for The American Christian Missionary Society.

     When the report of this meeting appeared, Jacob Creath, Jr., who had opposed the convention, proposed that a general meeting be called in May or June of the following year to discuss the legitimacy of conventions and missionary societies. Some congregations of the saints registered a strong protest against the society. The elders of a Pennsylvania

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congregation wrote, "The church is the only missionary society and can admit no rivals." So great was the opposition and so meager the interest at first that the movement languished for several years. But the first convention had been held and the first society organized, and because of the varied concepts concerning such matters the seed of distrust and disunity had been sown. Later this seed would germinate and bear the fruit of division. The divergent views became more crystallized in the hearts of their adherents. Those who thought in terms of restoring the primitive pattern became ever more critical of the right of the society to exist, but David S. Burnet wrote, "I consider the inauguration of the Society system, which I vowed to urge upon my brethren if God raised me from my protracted illness of 1845 was one of the most important acts of my career."

     It seems to us as we read the earlier writings of Alexander Campbell and compare them with his actions a quarter of a century later that he made a definite change in his objectives and position. This, however, he disclaimed and sought to defend the American Christian Missionary Society as merely the church at work. On what ground he concluded it was necessary to secure a charter for "the church" that it might be "hereby invested with all the powers and privileges necessary for conducting home and foreign missions, in advancement of the Christian religion" it is difficult for us to see. Had the church been doing this work without the power and privilege before 1849? But we feel that our readers may be interested in the statement by Campbell, which was written in reply to a letter from James Inglis, an outstanding preacher in the Baptist party, who resided in Detroit, Michigan. In 1850, the year following the creation of the missionary society, Mr. Inglis wrote:

     "But, amidst these anticipations, the movement excites apprehensions, too. The body of Disciples is now influential in point of numbers and resources. They have advanced, through severe conflict, to their present prosperity, and now is the time when a denominational spirit will be apt to spring up. The selfish cant of 'our denomination' may steal in under a mere change of phraseology. The critical period, in this respect, is in the outset of your associated efforts and organization. My apprehensions on this score are quickened by some features of the constitutions of the several societies formed by the convention at Cincinnati, and by some corresponding features in the proceedings of the convention itself."

     To this scholarly and friendly epistle, Alexander Campbell replied in his characteristic form as follows:

     "In my first essay in the first volume of the Christian Baptist, I took the ground that the church, in her own capacity, was the only scriptural missionary institution known to the primitive church and to Christianity, as propounded by 'its Founder and His prime ministers,' and that no separate and distinct associations, composed of other persons than its members, could be regarded as of divine authority, or in harmony with the genius and spirit of the gospel and the church. To this view I am as much devoted today as I then was; and while consenting to a missionary society as a distinct object of contemplation, and as a means of diffusing the gospel, I now regard it as I then regarded it, as the church of any given district, in council assembled by her messengers, to devise ways and means for accomplishing this object with more concentrated power and efficiency."

     1. Both those who introduced the society and those who opposed it acted upon honest motives. One group sincerely felt that it would innocently implement the spread of the kingdom of heaven on earth; the other just as sincerely held that it would constitute a surrender of the plea for restoration of the ancient order. Unfortunately, in

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religious matters, those who differ soon come to impugn the motives of those who hold divergent ideas and the controversy passes from the domain of the rational to that of the emotional. We have tried to settle too many of our differences with hot heads and cold hearts when they should always be discussed with cool heads and warm hearts.

     2. Satan takes advantage of our disagreements and exploits them for his gain. He employs them to engender the party spirit which is a work of the flesh. One way of implementing the party spirit is to alienate brethren by false accusation and assignment of base designs. Those who opposed the missionary society were indicted as being opposed to mission work and proclamation of the gospel. Those who favored it were charged with entering into a premeditated conspiracy to willfully betray the cause of Christ. Both charges were false. Labels beget parties. They tend to force men to band together in self-defense. Since labels are affixed as brands by the opposition their very tendency is evil and divisive. Little is accomplished in behalf of peace by tagging some brethren as "Digressives" and others as "Old Fogies."

     3. It is the nature of organizations that they seldom legislate themselves out of existence. That which is introduced as an expedient today becomes a necessity tomorrow. That which was created to meet an emergency in one generation will create an emergency to perpetuate itself in the next generation. All human organizations are the offspring of human thinking. They are conceived in human minds and beloved by those who gave them birth. Frequently they come to mean more to those who support them than the divine organism created by God. This is evidenced by the fact that severe criticism of the church will not induce a reply but the least unfavorable reference to the organization brings instant retaliation.

     4. In our study of the history of religious movements it is frequently impressed upon us that things are introduced upon one basis in one generation and defended upon wholly different grounds by succeeding generations. All of us are constantly faced with the temptation to search the scriptures to justify what we possess. This is directly opposed to the spirit of restoration. We should always recognize that a stream can accumulate sediment as it flows along its channel in contact with its banks. A religious movement will likewise collect accretions from its contact with the world. We ought to be willing to constantly reevaluate our practice and profession in the light of the revealed testimony of God.

     5. Although in their inception it is the stalwart character of their membership which forms the basis of distinction for most religious movements, when those same movements grow older and become more sectarian in nature they tend to point instead with increasing pride to their organizations and institutions. Actually that which is recognized as a badge of progress may be a symbol of shame. Most organizations are born of fear. When the initial flame that kindled individual hearts burns low and the zest for service born of love recedes, there is an urge to organize in order to capture and preserve the waning powers and direct them in some effective measure. All too often the accomplishments are actually less than those of a handful of pioneers who had nothing behind them upon which to depend for sustenance and were forced to "look unto Jesus."

     When the disciples no longer care for orphans, organizations are created to fulfill this function. When they no longer train every enlistee to be a soldier, organizations are created to train a special "palace guard" to defend the faith. In time the idea never occurs to the average member to put on the whole armor. He does not think it pertains to him. When all lose interest in taking the good news to friend and neighbor, organizations are created to do this while those who contribute to the organizations sit in air-conditioned comfort to have the message "sounded in" to them which they should be sounding out to dying sinners. Perhaps one of the greatest er-

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rors in the history of Christendom was that of building houses in which to preach the gospel. This removed the warfare from the battlefield to the mess hall. It reversed the process of the Spirit which laid upon the shoulder of the believer the responsibility to go and take the message and placed upon the lost the responsibility to come and get it.

     Instead of publishing colored brochures telling of the great accomplishments of our organizations we need to publish apologies for the necessity of having them. The moment we start thinking in terms of an organization sending out missionaries we betray our lack of knowledge of God's program for His people. The church does not send out missionaries, it is composed of missionaries. We are all missionaries and it is precisely because we have lost our sense of mission and vocation that we seek to prepare a professional caste under professional supervision to enable us to hold up our heads among the sectarian groups which surround us. Our organizations are not so much banners of success as monuments to our failure. We did not recapture the spirit of primitive Christianity so we settled for something less--moral mediocrity. We created a cult of the unconcerned!

     6. Organizations sustain the same relationship to the spiritual realm as machines do to the social and economic realm. Indeed organizations are a part of our machinery. They represent inventions created to enable us to go farther and do so with greater speed. They are facilitating devices. It is because of this that they are regarded as harmless expedients. Machines are neutral, they are neither good or bad. They can be used to accomplish good or evil. It is reasoned that we ought not to oppose their creation or existence but concentrate on regulation of their use. We become less certain of this all the time.

     It has been generally accepted that the Machine Age when introduced marked a milestone in human progress, that it was a great step toward a higher order of civilization. It may yet be proven that this judgment was rendered too hastily and prematurely before all the data was in and the results could be properly evaluated. If by civilization we mean moral and spiritual growth of mankind it may be argued that the Machine has destroyed rather than augmented it. The Machine Age may have been born of a desire for the easy life, of a lust for luxury. Instead of marking a great conquest in the realm of the Spirit it may have been nurtured by a compromise with the flesh. Perhaps it pampered the belly instead of enriching the heart. In any event man invented the Machine as a servant but it has now enslaved him and become his master.

     Once again we see the result of misplaced loyalties. Man is the creator, the machine is the created. Men now worship and serve the creature more than the creator. When two shining creations of metal feeding upon high octane fuel, hurtle through space at more than a mile per minute and crash into each other, there is often less remorse over the dead and dying than over the damage rendered to the beautiful machine. Men will freely give their sons at the call of the government and send them away to die with drums beating and flags waving, but if that same government sought to attach their automobiles there would be a rebellion. It is true that men made machines but it's equally true that machines have made a new type of man.

     When "civilization" was in its infancy men were sickened if a fiend in human form slit the throats of a half dozen helpless children. Now a man may become a national hero if a machine lifts him above the clouds from which he may drop a bomb upon an unsuspecting populace, which will scatter the entrails of ten thousand people over the surrounding landscape, and sear, blind and maim thousands of others who will be doomed to a life worse than death. It is an irrevocable law that when men worship the creature more than the creator they are given up to a base mind and to improper conduct" (Romans 1:28).

     Of course we do not imply that the

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organizational machinery which men have created in the spiritual realm will be utilized in such a manner as that we have described. But there are certain likenesses which must not be treated lightly. (1) Machinery creates a sense of dependency and produces a deadening conformity which is destructive of the individual spirit. After a generation or two man becomes helpless without the organization. (2) The machinery comes to direct and dominate as men (or congregations) surrender their right of function to it. Men contribute their capital to the organization and the organization uses this money to gain control or supervision even of the activities of those who contribute. (3) The Machine always breeds machines, but what is a hundred times more dangerous, it artificially creates new needs which demand other forms of machinery. The church, like the government, can become the slave of bureaucracy. Already the religion of the Son of Man is so complexified that it requires trained professional personnel to operate the machines--Ministers of music, Youth Program Ministers, Ministers of Education.

     We have been made the victims of our organizational processes. It is probable that the Cincinnati Convention of 1849 lit the fire in the forge from which the chains were welded that took away our freedom to restore the primitive order. We are a long distance from the simplicity of the original ekklesia of God. Perhaps Alexander Campbell doomed the movement to become one of contemporary conformity when he wrote that year: '''We want...deliberative meetings on questions of expediency in adaptation to the ever changing fortune and character of society." There is a grave difference between adaptation and reformation. The church is intended to transform the character of society and not be conformed to it. Let us never forget that we are not sectarian because we have these organizations, but we have these organizations because we have become sectarian!

     7. The division which occurred did not settle the organizational question for either side. Those who favored the establishment of the missionary society have since suffered from several cleavages among themselves as to the place of the society, and have resorted to the courts to clarify ownership of the property claimed by one side or the other. Those who opposed the society have split into several factions over the charge that they created other institutions in the same category and bearing all the earmarks of the missionary society. They also have become involved in lawsuits and court actions among themselves.

     Any person who studies earnestly the history of events related to the restoration movement must reach the conclusion that division is like war in that it constantly shifts the ground of our problems, but never solves them. We should realize that division in the ranks of God's army is not the road to purity of morals or of doctrine. Each division lays the groundwork for others to follow. It is a fact that division between brethren is nowhere sanctioned in the sacred scriptures as a remedy for our ills. It is the most widely practiced procedure but it is without any scriptural authority.

     8. It is possible that the creation of the society in 1849 marked the termination of the original purpose of the restoration movement. We say this not because the society was formed. Its formation was merely a symptom of a much deeper and more subtle change of goals. The restoration movement was launched as "a project to unite the Christians in all the sects." The establishment of "our own organizations" and "our own societies" signalled the crystallization of the sectarian attitude and betokened the fact that a new party had been born with all of its exclusive partisan mechanisms to perpetuate its power and enlarge its gains. Mr. Inglis, the Detroit Baptist preacher, could see this, although Alexander Campbell could not.

     I am personally resolved that I will follow the apostolic example of preaching the gospel of God's Son and planting nothing in any community except a congregation of disciples. When I leave an area I shall be concerned that there be but one thing there which was not there before I came a church of the living God. I believe that all the Father wants done for the salvation of sinners and the sanctification of believers can be done by this unit of the divine organism. Anything that cannot be done through it and by it is something He does not want done. It is my conviction that through the indwelling Spirit of God the church is empowered to accomplish the purpose of God for this generation.

     But how shall I regard those who sincerely believe they can scripturally implement the work of God through methods my conscience will not allow me to condone? Certainly I shall respect them as my brothers. Especially will I rejoice in every good work they perform and in every soul they lead to acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh. If one goes to the dark recesses of a tropical jungle and at great personal sacrifice proclaims Christ Jesus to half-savage natives and leads them to reformation of life, I shall not deny that the preacher or the natives are God's children and my brethren, merely because the former is supported by a missionary society. "Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The former proclaim Christ out of partisanship, not sincerely...What then? Only that in every way whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice" (Phil. 1:15-18). This is not to imply that all who are sent forth under auspices of a missionary society preach from envy, rivalry, and partisanship. Certainly many thus preach who are opposed to missionary societies. I refer to the passage only to show the principle that one may rejoice at the results achieved although he cannot always endorse the methods and motives leading to such achievement. Any other course makes us more partisan than those we condemn.

     I am a firm believer in the fact that God has not retired from contemporary history. He is not a God of the past but also of the present and of the future. He is active and working in our day. "He holds the whole world in His hand." The tragedies and crises of yesterday can be woven into His pattern for our times in ways we cannot foresee or realize. Even the factions among us can be turned into practical use in the fulfillment of the divine purpose and made to serve as tests in the laboratory of faith (1 Cor.11:19).

     I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I hold the conviction that world events are so shaping themselves in our generation that the entire approach to missionary effort may have to be re-thought, revamped and revised. I have been analyzing trends within recent months which indicate that the missionary societies in all Christendom may some day be scrapped as outworn and ineffective. I shall not here discuss those trends nor detail the factors which lead to my conclusions but they are sufficient to warrant this statement that our readers may observe the rapidly advancing conditions. God may, through His providence, force us to settle some of our grave difficulties which we have considered unsolvable in the past. When this happens there may be a return to the primitive method in which "all those who were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word."

     It is obvious that the systems we have evolved have not provided for the effec-

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tual sharing of all our gifts and talents. Actually we have created and utilized methods which make it impossible for the average person to contribute anything but money. Celsus was the first infidel on record who attacked the Christians. He sneeringly remarked that "wool-workers, cobblers, fullers, the most illiterate and vulgar of mankind," proclaimed what he designated an illiterate faith and knew how to "commend it to women and children." That at which he scoffed was the strength of Christianity as opposed to the philosophy of the schools. In his book The First Three Christian Centuries, Islay Burns writes of the early saints:

     "Then they were intensely propagandist. While ever unseen they were ever at work. Every member was also a missionary of the sect, and lived mainly to propagate a doctrine for which they were ever ready to die. Thus the infection spread by a thousand unsuspected channels. Like a contagion propagated in the air, it could penetrate as it seemed, anywhere, everywhere. The meek and gentle slave that tends your children, or attends you at table, may be a Christian; the favorite daughter of your house, who has endeared herself to you by a tenderness and grace peculiarly her own, and which seems to you as strange as it is captivating, turns out to be a Christian; the captain of the guards, the legislator in the senate-house may be a Christian!"

     We only ask that you read with fairness and objectivity. If you cannot agree with what we say you will still be loved and respected as a brother or sister in the Lord. You need not conform to our thinking on these matters for us to cherish and respect you. We will receive you as God, for the sake of Christ, has received us. It is not conformity to our thinking, but the new birth, that makes us children of God and thus a part of the brotherhood of the redeemed ones. As we continue to explore the history of the movement to which all of us are related and see the rise of factionalism, it is to be hoped that all of us can see our way clear to the dedication of ourselves to the crusade for "peace on earth among men of good will."

     I have this final word to say about the proclamation of the gospel. It is my personal opinion that the controversy over the missionary society arose because of a mistaken concept as to the nature and mission of the church of God. Both those who favored and those who opposed the society were wrong, as we see it. The sharing of the good news with a world of lost sinners was never entrusted as a task to any organization, human or divine. It is not true that the church was a missionary society. True the church was composed of missionaries, for the simple reason that our sharing of the glad tidings stems from our covenant relationship with Jesus and not our membership in the church. The church was not planted to preach the gospel. The gospel was preached to plant the church. The message was first and the community of saints resulted from it. It must ever be thus!

     In our next issue we shall deal with the problem of instrumental music in its introduction among the congregations resulting from the restoration movement. It will be our humble intention to analyze the real factors contributing to our unfortunate division. We shall deal with the problem as it relates to fellowship and we shall suggest certain things that may lay the foundation for better days for the strife-torn brotherhood of dis-

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ciples. Until next month we bid you farewell with our prayers ascending for all of you. We never write an article nor mail an issue of this paper without a fervent prayer that God may bless us all- and reader alike. Pray for us and if possible write us. Your own personal reactions are always read with interest and studied with benefit. May His grace attend you all!