THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
T. Fanning, Editor
Nashville, December 11, 1866
Vol. VIII, Number 56
CHURCH OF CHRIST AND WORLD-POWERS, NO. 17
We have found that all the ordinances of God are not for the use of his approved subjects, nor are all of his ministers the servants and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read, then, in what sense there is the power both of God. The power that be are ordained of God.
In reference to the fifth chapter of Romans, there is still a difficulty. Christians are commanded not to resist the power; for he that resists the power resists the ordinance of God. If this be true, it is the kingdom of God; and it is the duty of Christians to submit to it, and to recognize the authority of the powers that be.
The difficulty arises from the fact that the powers that be are ordained of God, and that they are to be recognized as such. The true question is, what is the nature of the powers that be? Are they good or evil?
The answer to this question is found in the nature of the powers that be. They are ordained of God, and they are to be recognized as such. The powers that be are not to be resisted, but they are to be obeyed.
The question then arises, what is the duty of Christians in relation to the powers that be? The answer is, they are to submit to them, and to recognize their authority.
However, it is also true that the powers that be are not always good. There are times when they are evil, and when they are to be resisted. The question then arises, how are Christians to know when to submit and when to resist?
The answer to this question is found in the nature of the powers that be. If they are good, they are to be obeyed; if they are evil, they are to be resisted.
In conclusion, we must recognize that the powers that be are ordained of God, and that they are to be recognized as such. However, we must also recognize that they are not always good, and that there are times when they are to be resisted.
Let us then be mindful of our duty to God and to the powers that be, and let us strive to do what is right in the sight of God.
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God to the Christian for good, by punishing wickedness, and thus repressing vice and vicious men. And even if, in the providence of God, these ministers of wrath are used to chasten the disobedient child of God, and kindle the fires of persecution, still, as a chaste minister, he ministers good to the child and Church of God. So God used Pharaoh, the Assyrians, and Nebuchadnezzar as the rod of chastisement to his people in ancient times, to humble them, and bring them back to obedience to God; and as such they were ministers of God to his people for good.
It was Nero, and all the bloody persecutors of the Church of God. For it is this self-same bloody Nero, with his host of satraps and persecuting agents, who says was “the minister of God to the Christian for good.” If we will consider for a moment the rulers to whom Paul was commanding these Roman Christians to submit, and why he was telling them were God’s ministers, we cannot fail to see that this is necessarily the only construction that we can place upon the language.
For this cause pay you tribute also, for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. It is our duty to pay tribute to these powers that may be over us, a duty we owe to God himself. And he who refuses to conscientiously and faithfully pay his tribute or tax violates the solemn promise of God.
But “they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.” What thing? The very thing that he has just told Christians they could not do. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves.” “Vengeance is mine.” “For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The higher power—the earthly ruler—is God’s minister, to do that which a Christian cannot do, to wit, take vengeance. Now we affirm that there is not a single declaration made of this earthly kingdom of vengeance and its rulers, that may not just as safely and truly be made of the great spiritual kingdom of darkness and its ruler. It is ordained of God; it is his ordinance, that the wicked one is his minister to execute wrath and vengeance upon every one that doeth evil.
They—the civil and hellish terrors to the evil doer but not to the good man. They minister good to him in repressing vice and deterring the wicked from violence, and in driving, as it were, the Christian from the paths of wickedness and the associations of the evil, to a closer and holier walk with God.
Thus it is that “all things work together for good to them that love God; to them that are called according to his purpose,” Rom. viii: 28. The mercy of God, as exhibited through the condescending love of the Savior, and the promised joys and bliss of heaven, gently woos man to the path of holiness and peace. God is exhibiting wrath to the disobedient, as presented through the dreadful reign of the wicked one, and the unquenchable fires of hell, driving man from the “broad road of sin and death to the straight and narrow path that leads to God. All things—both
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Heaven and hell, Christ and the devil—then truly work together for the good of those who love God.
Thus the true position of the Church of Christ to this world-power is definitely fixed. The Christian’s connection with it is marked by the pen of inspiration, and no man need be in doubt in reference to his duty to it. This connection is one of simple submission to, not of active participation, or support. There is not a word or intimation in the sacred Scriptures that indicate that it is the duty of any Christian to support, maintain, or defend any institution or organization of man, further than a quiet, passive, but conscientious and faithful submission to its requirements, may tend to sustain it. That submission he must render, not as a duty he owes to government on account of any virtue or merit it possesses, but as a solemn duty he owes to his Maker. This sense of duty to God connects him with all the governments and powers of the earth, just alike. It permits him to become the partisan of none.
There was never a government more disastrous to a people, more oppressive and unjust to a people, than was the Roman government to the Jews, and especially the Jews that were converted to Christianity; yet the apostle said, submit to the powers that be; they are ordained of God; they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. This thing of punishing wickedness, and testing the faith, and purifying the lives of Christians by the fires of persecution—this is the principle, and the only principle, that can safely guide Christians in the revolutions and conflicts of earthly powers. Our duty is not to determine which is right and which is wrong—which ought or ought not to succeed—but it is simply to submit to the power that is over us. If, in the conflicts and strifes, an old government is overthrown or changed, and a new one substituted, still, the voice of God with emphatic authority says, “submit to the powers that be.” As often as the authorities change, so often still the Word of God says, “submit to the powers that be”—the partisan, the supporter of none—submissive to all. If we follow the examples and precepts of the Bible, as taught and presented under the dispensation of God to man, but especially in the examples and precepts of the Savior and his apostles, we will never come into a closer contact with these governments than that of submission to their authority.
YORKVILLE, Gibson County, Tenn.,
Near Lemons, Nov 30th, 1861.
BROTHER LINSCOUM:
You will receive by the hand of our brother, H. H. A. McCorkle, thirty-two and a half dollars, the contribution our little congregation made last Lord’s day, especially for our suffering brethren. You will have it appropriated in the love and fear of the Lord.
Fraternally,
D. A. H. McCorkle.
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS AND SERVICE IN THE CHURCH
HICKORY FLAT, MISSISSIPPI,
Oct. 5th, 1866.
Bno, FANNING: Since writing, I have to report the addition of two to the Messiah’s kingdom. I have also had the pleasure of receiving several copies of the “Advocate,” for which I beg henceforth to return my grateful acknowledgments.
Your answer to my queries—p. 593—I am not quite sure that I understand, and I propose to present a few seminary objections to your reply, in order that if I am laboring under a misconception of your views and Scripture teaching, you may correct me; for I am in quest of all the light of Revelation on this subject, which, I quite agree with you in saying, is not generally understood. If I do not misunderstand you, and if you are right, I must confess I do not understand the subject myself.
Now, if you will bear with me a short time, I will point out a few objections to your teaching on this subject. You may—p. 591, vol. 5, No. 38—”know of no authority in the Scriptures for concluding that an election or ordination is a necessary qualification for doing any work in the house of God.” These (italics my own) never made a preacher, elder, bishop, deacon, or deaconess, etc. I quite agree with you that these (“election and ordination”) never made an elder—old man or senior—time (Lamb experience alone do this—neither did they ever make preachers—preaching being the prerogative and duty of all who “hear”—Rev. 3:6; 1:7—and are capable of doing so. But am I right when I understand you, from this extract, to say that an elder—old man or senior—if he has the qualifications enumerated by Paul in his letters to his son Timothy and Titus, is as truly a bishop, as a character or ordination—that if he does the “work” of a bishop, he is as truly a bishop in the Scriptural sense of that term, without ordination as with it? Elders are such by virtue of their age and experience—teachers being used of their work—Acts xi: 19, 30—but bishops are such because of their age and qualifications; for the work, I do not quite understand. Nor am I prepared to admit that these alone ever made any one a bishop independent of election and ordination, any more than being “of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom”—Acts vi: 3—constituted the seven of Jerusalem deacons, which was certainly true, if neither election nor ordination was necessary in order to make them deacons.
Were they deacons before they were “looked out?” Were they then? No. But after the apostles “had prayed and laid their hands on them,” then—not until then—they were nominally and truly deacons. Hence we see that both election and ordination were necessary, in their case, to make deacons; and I think I would be justifiable in saying that if they had never been “looked out,” the apostles would never have “prayed.”
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and laid hands on them,” and they would therefore never have been deacons.
We find—Titus 1:5
that Paul left Titus in Crete for certain specified purposes, one of which was to “ordain elders in every city.” Now, the question naturally occurs, why ordain elders? To which I would reply, to legalize the official use of those qualifications before possessed.
To illustrate. All the male citizens of Mississippi, of certain age, are eligible to the office of governor; but are all, therefore, governors? No. Why? Because of non-election. We should elect one. Is he governor, de jure, now? No. Why? Because he has not yet been ordained, or inaugurated. Such ordination manifestly does not impart any qualification not before possessed, but it legalizes the official use of those qualifications, and is necessary in our political government, because so required by our political laws. It is necessary in the Christian kingdom, because required by the laws of our King.
Bishops, deacons, and deaconesses must be elected, either by the congregation, or the evangelist, or pastor, or somebody else; for Paul says—1 Tim. iii: 1-7—”This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop, then, must be blameless; sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.” Yet Paul is inexorable—they must have some things—some other things they must not have.
Some one, then, is to determine, and such selection, for all intents and purposes, is an election. He must have these qualifications as an elder, and then, by ordination, the official use of these qualifications as bishops is legalized. So of deacons and deaconesses.
But I fear I have already trespassed too far on your patience. But I am in quest of all the light the Bible affords on this and all other questions; and these, and some other minor objections to your reply, present themselves, and I do not know any better way to get the matter fully settled than to present them to you, and let you dispose of them according to the teachings of the book. You can give this a place in the Advocate, or among the rubrics, as propriety may suggest.
Truly your brother,
W. A. C.
REPLY
Bro. C. states the general view of making officers, as taken from the law of Moses and civil government, as clearly and satisfactorily as we have seen; and we consider it our duty to him to tell the brethren, not only to state our objections, but to present what we regard as the teaching of the Scriptures.
In the law, men were not born priests, but at thirty years of age the sons of Levi were to begin to perform the service in the tabernacle, and continue till they were fifty.
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Years old, Numbers, 4th chapter. Before Aaron and his sons could minister in the priest’s office, they were to be washed in water, were to put on the holy garments, and be anointed with oil. Thus they were consecrated to the service of God. Read Exodus, 28th and 29th chapters.
From this custom, no doubt, civil and military officers are consecrated by such ceremonies as the children of this world may fancy most suitable; and, doubtless, from the example of the Jews and the world without, religious parties consecrate their officials.
But when I asked, why object to this order of constituting officers? I reply to my brethren that we are under a new and different order of things. The priesthood has been changed, and the order of service has also been changed. Christians are born “kings and priests;” and if “the Prince of the kings of the earth” has made us kings and priests, the service cannot be done by election and imposition of hands, or by other expedients of ignorant men. See Rev. i: 5, 6. Peter said to his brethren scattered abroad: “Ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ.” The saints are “a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that they should show forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light,” 1 Pet. 2: 5-9. Who built up this holy priesthood? The Father, through his Son, who organized this holy nation—peculiar people? The Majesty of heaven.
If Bro. C. and others are disposed to examine this subject carefully, I will gladly make a few points, which, I am of the judgment, will enable them to do so successfully.
In the first place, we must satisfy ourselves that the wisdom of denominational religion throws no light on the subject; and secondly, that, inasmuch as the Christian institution is peculiar, the institutions of the prince of this world can render us no assistance in our spiritual investigations.
A full answer to all that Bro. C. has said, and that has been said by others, or can be said, I think, will be found in a few very plain Scriptural statements.
- The Apostle Paul illustrates the body of Christ by the natural body of man—Rom. xii: 4—and teaches that “all the members of this natural body have not the same office;” and if there is any application in the figure, every member in the body of our Lord has a special office to perform. In the natural body the offices may be called natural; and if there is fitness in the illustration, the offices are universal and natural in the body—the Church of God. The infant, when born, is perfectly organized; and no sensible surgeon would attempt to reorganize the body, or rearrange the members.
Christian people who know their duty will not attempt to organize, reorganize the body of Christ, or elect that it…
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Members shall be ordained to this or the other part of the body. The reason is obvious.
- God hath set the members, every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him (Col. 1:18). This statement of inspiration is neither understood nor believed by the masses of professed Christians. Am I asked how God has set the members in the body? Paul said in the sermon of Ephesians: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers” (Acts xx: 28). If God has ordained the seniors, bishops, or overseers of the flock, we ought not to think or make ourselves by election and ordination. In the church of Corinth, Paul wrote to the brethren, “I beseech you that you submit to such as the house of Stephanas, in consequence of being the first members” (1 Cor. xvi: 15). These were heaven’s overseers in the Church, without the appointment of the members.
- Peter puts this matter beyond all controversy. He said: “The elders who are among you, I exhort: I, who am a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint, but willingly; not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Pet. v: 1-4). The seniors were not only exhorted to perform the overseers’ labor or office, but were proclaimed the shepherds under the Chief Shepherd.
Such are God’s pastors; and hence the idea of attempting to make lads, stripling, and youths shepherds over the flock is a blunder, shame, and burdensome upon everything sacred.
God has ordained other characters, teachers, and helpers for other departments of labor. Aged women, for instance, are ordained to teach young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, obedient to their own husbands; and young men are ordained and specifically instructed to be sober-minded, showing a pattern of good works, in teaching, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned (Titus ii: 3-8). I know of no duty required in the Church that is not specifically required of the members; and still there are the most apparent difficulties.
While the idea of civil or other office is in the mind of the brethren, they cannot see the truth. But it will be remembered that Paul speaks of each member in the body operating in its particular office, and thus must the members of the Church perform the work, or office which God has ordained. The worst office in this, and I may say every other class, means work.
And hence, Paul said, I magnify my office, labor, mission, or work. Again, Paul said, “If a man does…”
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The Office of a Bishop
The office of a bishop, (business of overlooking) he desires a good work. This was not a silvery, or opulent authority, as stated; but certain labor that good men may desire to perform.
Upon the subject of “ordination,” I will make a brief statement. In settling of temporal matters, it is proper for Christians “to set (or ordain) them who are least esteemed in the Church to judge,” 1 Cor. vi. When it becomes necessary for the senior or designated bishops to give their time to the work of overlooking the flock, they should be set apart by prayer, fasting, and imposition of hands. Timothy did this work at Ephesus, Titus in Crete, and Paul and Silas in Asia Minor.
While the members of the body “grow up into him in all things” (Eph. iv: 15), it may be necessary, some times, to change adds of labor; and we have the example of the church at Antioch, setting Paul and Barnabas apart for special labor, after they had done precisely the same labor among the Jews for some fourteen years. Hence this praying, fasting, and imposition of hands never made teachers, elders, deacons, bishops, or old women in the church. When thus designated by the brethren, and recommended, they gave their entire time and energies to the work till finished, or it became expedient to labor in another part of the vineyard. We can scarcely conclude that Sister Phoebe was constituted a servant or deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, by election and ordination. John was called the Baptist, or Immerser, because he did the work designated; Simon was called a tanner because he was a leather worker; and all New Testament officials are named from their labor, and not from what the world calls rightful authority. Quite enough for the present.
T. F.
PROGRESS OF OUR CONTEMPLATED COLLEGE
We are happy to report that in every neighborhood in which the friends of Christianity and education have examined our plans and purposes, success has attended our efforts. But the work we have undertaken is not the work of a day, and we are fully conscious that it cannot be accomplished without the united effort of the brethren. Just as soon as preachers and people will give their hearts to the matter, we feel the greatest confidence that our “Endowment Fund” will be secured. When we shall have provided for the line of competent teachers, who can give their lives to the education of youth, without charge, we shall be satisfied that our friends of the world and of the denominations will gladly provide the substantial buildings. We desire the brethren to examine into the purposes of our Trustees, and we feel confident that when they do so to their satisfaction, they will regard it as a most favorable opening to a great and good work. We are, perhaps, at fault for not writing more on the subject, but we have to do better in future.
T. FANNING
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
TO THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST IN CO-OPERATION AT ANTIOCH, PIKE CO., ALA.
Dear Brethren:
After mature reflection, we deem it but just to you, to give you the position we occupy on the subject of evangelizing, especially as it is not understood; not that we regard you as tributaries to whom we are accountable—by whom we are to be tried, and before whom we are to stand at all; but we do so out of regard for you—believing you to be fellow-heirs with us in the great commonwealth in the true Israel—co-workers with us in the great redemption, the perfecting of the saints—that unity in the faith and the spirit.
We are accused of being unfriendly to your co-operation meeting. We will not deny this, unless there be no neutral ground. If to advocate a policy different from yours, and pursue a different course, be direct opposition, then we plead guilty.
Whilst so many good brethren—men whose intelligence is unsurpassed, whose honesty and love of the truth have caused them to breast the various storm of sectarian opposition, and condemn popular influence—and the strong advocates for human agencies in the propagation of the gospel, we are not prepared to reject them without serious consideration. We love you, brethren, and respect your opinions, though we deem them erroneous. We find that we most successfully combat sectarian influence when we respect (but not encourage) the notions of the honest misguided. Why should we not respect your opinions, and you ours? A manifest evidence of weakness in any cause is a disposition on the part of its advocates to exhibit but little forbearance towards those who oppose them. (Let our brethren all know this who are now discussing such momentous questions as the missionary, war, and other questions.)
We look at this matter thus. We are just emerging from the wilderness, and are clearing away the accumulated rubbish—this we should all work, and work together, and be sure to “stick to the text.” But suppose we are not agreed about how the ground is to be cut out? The only remedy is for all to remember to show, in every act and word, the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22, 23. Let the brother who thinks there is no other way given under heaven among men whereby the gospel can be spread except through the medium of a missionary society, work away with all his might—the advocates for co-operation or district meetings do the same, and in like manner all others. In the meantime, let us endeavor, by discussing, (for the truth’s sake, not for our own glory) and still better by practicing, to ascertain the truth—which way brings more of Adam’s sons to the knowledge of the truth—”which works best;” for in this matter we would be willing to entertain the old mourner’s pouch argument.
The objection we have to all the means employed now is, that they do not work well—the same we have to this noted bench. We give it as our opinion, simply, that the means introduced by man as substitutes for…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
The plan in revelation, for the furtherance of the interests of the kingdom, have had about the same effect of the wondrous mourner’s bench; and for this, there is no greater delusion now, and there has been no greater barrier to man’s advancement in the knowledge of the way of salvation, since Bunyan wrote his Pilgrim’s Progress. This is preached now more than the Bible; this capped the climax ascending of confusion.
Brethren, my honest conviction is, that when we strike the chord that vibrates in consonance with God’s will, the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. This is not the case now. Our neighbors are at this time bowed down under the galling yoke of her majesty MYSTERY; and, mourning captives, they still in their ignorance and confusion cry, “Great is the Mystery of Babylon!” An intelligent subject said not long since to us, “If the Bible was not a mystery, I would not believe it.” So the world wags now. But, as the custodians and expounders of the sacred oracles, it becomes us to do everything possible to dispel the gloom of Babylon, and let the light of the glorious gospel shine into the hearts of the heightened; and then we practice the plan ordained from Heaven for sowing the good seed, with the same zeal and devotion—the same, yes, greater, effects will be discernible in the moral world than was seen when Luther declared that the “Bible is the religion of Protestants;” or when the Campbells said, “nothing should be received as a rule of faith and practice which is not as old as the New Testament.”
But the great question now to be settled is, what do we want? This is the great inquiry; for anyone with less than ordinary powers of perspicuity can see that the present advancement of the Master’s kingdom is not commensurate with the facilities within our reach; nor is its progress tantamount to the broads and entrenchments of the queen of mysteries in this country. The brethren are answering this momentous question in a variety of ways, and their actions accord with their answers. Some think we stand in need of more missionary societies; some that district or co-operation meetings are the very thing; some that common stock is the desideratum; others, that a college we must have; yet others, common schools, free schools, free negro schools, etc., are indispensable—and all agree that money makes everything else move, and money will give a new impetus to the great kingdom. We do not believe that all of these are single but non. (If they had been, our Lord and Master would have instituted them.) And we are certain if one half of them be not dead weight to be carried with the gospel, while the other half follow the success of the gospel—are not antecedent, or can necessary to the success of the gospel.
But how shall this question be answered? Shall we now allege allegiance to literature, and, following in its wake, declare for the rule of expediency; or bring the light of nature to bear; or receive nothing which…
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Is not as old as the New Testament? We are accused of being a Campbellite by friend and foe; and here we will play the Campbellite. We believe that in order to the full development and success of the kingdom in this country, we need neither missionary societies, colleges, cooperation meetings, district meetings—yea, money itself is not a prerequisite.
But we need soldiers! Says one, we have more now in the field than we can feel! We mean just what we say. We have some, ’tis true; but like the little boy by “getting religion,” we do not want any more of “that sort.” Those we have been drilling. The battle is not to the strong, but to the brave. We have been told that many a day has been won and cause sustained by the superior mettle and training of the warriors. So must be the case with us. We meet men who will fight you under any and all circumstances—”following Paul as Paul followed Christ.”
We have said that these human agencies are by no means sine qua non, and the reasoning is perfectly clear. If the sowers of the good seed disseminated it under every nation and under heaven, and it took deep root, without these agonies—they were not needed then. Why are they necessary now? What has been done, can be done. What was needed, is needed now—using the same means, we will attain the same ends; all working, and working in the same way.
There are two things that are astonishing to us at this time—that in primitive times there were so many preachers, and now so few. That preachers once worked with such energy—so many now can find a lodgment in some schoolhouse or academy, in a law office, or tavern, with pill bags, to hold the burden when the soul is sick, and will be lost immediately.
Paul has left us an example of the true soldier and true soldiery—having us follow him. We have learned something, too, of what it takes to make a soldier in the late war. Profiting by example, and taking a practical lesson from experience, let us draw some conclusions. But we need men of self-denial. The individual who huddles on his armor for the fight, with fanciful pictures flitting through his brain, of friendly chiefs, feather balls, niceties—all smiles and no frowns, all pleasure and no denials—has mistaken his calling, and will have to study it over again.
No man is required to make more demands than the Christian preacher. But he can do it; he is a soldier of the Cross. If a Confederate soldier could leave his home cheerfully; deny himself the pleasure of family and friends; breast the storm of battle; live upon parched corn; be clad in rags that the ragman would scarcely pick up in the streets—and this, too, for a crown, and an inheritance that perishes with its using—would it be too exacting on the part of the God of the heavens to demand such an exhibition of love and devotion on the part of his soldiers, when fighting for an unfading crown and an incorruptible legacy?
We need men whose hearts are in the cause. Jesus will countenance the fervor of his people’s affections. He being primarily, all things—the most…
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Endearing objects of life must be secondary. But the preacher being a soldier in front, he must show an example to the brethren of devotion to our Savior. If the swamp foot of South Carolina, during the troubles of ’66, was so devoted to his mistress—Miss Liberty—that he could diet upon roasted potatoes and receive not one cent of pay, is it reasonable to hear soldiers of the Cross, who are warriors, to disenthrall mankind from the fearfully disastrous bondage of sin and make them the happy recipients of the glorious liberty of the gospel, murmuring money, MONEY, MONEY—decrying the standard of the mighty Prince because they are not supported? (Paul worked with his own hands on such occasions, but never stopped preaching)—complaining at the brethren, who should be instructed in self-denial by their leader. Well, but we must be hard! Yes, that the true soldier—the true laborer—will be required for his services, is taught as clear as anything in the Bible. But he must not be too hard to satisfy. Our Savior has promised food, and raiment and drink; but a superabundance—not luxuries.
We believe that those who labor in word and doctrine should be recompensed (and will if they work properly) and that well, yes, very well. But suppose they are not—then quit—be a deserter! O shame! Such would be disgraceful to Jeff Davis or Andy Johnson—what when we forsake the cause of the mighty God of the universe—the King of kings and Lord of lords! We must remember that we are soldiers, and learn, with Paul, how to abound and how to suffer need; to be full and to be hungry; adapt ourselves, as a soldier of the late war would do, to fit all circumstances.
We have been pained in times past to hear preachers—the individuals who are to mould the minds of Christians into conformity to the will of God—saying, “My wife must dress as fine as any other man’s wife—my wife must have as much to eat as my other’s wife, and as many servants to wait on her,” etc., as according. Brethren, you are aware that Sister Blanks, Jr., is only in need at this time—a non-descript—but should we meet her, our earnest desire is to see a woman (not so particular about the lady—God made the former, the man made the latter) of modest apparel, whose ornaments are godliness, sobriety, a meek and quiet spirit—good works, a disposition to suffer all things for Christ’s sake, and with these a calico dress and shaker bonnet will fit her for the attraction of your humble brother.
But it does appear to us that preachers are more unwise than men of any other calling. They grow impatient if they do not receive a large salary at once. How long does it take a lawyer or physician to build up a practice—to get something gained? Were we but as industrious as they, we would succeed as well as they in getting a living while working for the Lord—but even, give us a little more ease. Then we need men of energy, patience, and confidence. Energy to cultivate the Lord’s vineyard, and patience to wait for the fruits of it.
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and confidence to expect it and hope for it, 1 Cor. i~: 10. Our indiscretion appears to manifest itself in a kind of scatter-gun operation. No other profession tries to work everywhere at the same time. On the subject of concentration of labor, we refer you to No. 31 of Gospel Advocate, July 31 ult.
Objection 1st
The preacher must lay up something for old age. Well, this is provident and wise. But we should not be over-anxious about these, especially as we have the promise of God before us. Christian laborers, who trust in the living God, generally work anxiously through a lifetime to provide for the new day; and a man in this country, in days past, thought himself poorly prepared to meet the old fellow unless he had, at least, $10,000 to feed him with. It does not take much to “live in old age;” let us not be too careful; besides, God will not forget his time-worn servants—the Lord will provide. If Paul admonishes the Thessalonians, he should warn out a life for his country and perishing laurels, and at the close of his career leave nothing but a camp-kettle and spit; should not a man fighting for the city with foundations—a house not made with hands, an eternal building—exhibit the same unselfish zeal by his life, by his acts, and in his death?
Objection 2nd
“But, Bro. Barnes, had you a wife and children to feed and educate, you would talk different.” We have never had a wife and children, and cannot say what we would do had we them. Peter said Philip had wives, and we can give their experience. They preached, and we never heard of any complaint about not being supported. Here let us recite what we have heard of an old veteran or Kentucky—Heccon John Smith. After hearing Bro. Campbell, he returned home and told “old Solomon” he must preach. “What are we to do for something to eat?” said the practical old sister, “The Lord will take care of us,” said the confident soldier. “What is to become of the little farm?” said the anxious matron. “Let the little farm take care of itself,” said the zealous Smith. He preached, and the consequence was that near a large acquisition to the cause of truth. (Bro. Editors, Bro. Smith still lives. We would like to know if he has ever suffered for the necessaries of life while battling for his King. Will he answer?) We want just such indefatigable soldiers now—men whose missionary society and cooperation meetings are in their hearts; whose authority is in the Bible and the Church; whose support is an invincible will; whose weapon is the sword of the Spirit.
Objection 3rd
“Bro. Barnes has property, and he can well afford to talk thus.” What we have is the Lord’s, and we expect to give an account for the use we make of it. Now, if we were to spend the Lord’s money in going to Montgomery, Atlanta, Nashville, Cincinnati, and every other city and town from Dan to Beersheba, we would have but little to
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Give to the service of the Lord. But using the means in our hands to the advancement of the kingdom, we have kept right at our work—going from house to house; instant in season and out of season; concentrating our labor; praying, visiting, talking, teaching, admonishing, exhorting, entreating, reproving, and rebuking. We now point you to Fair Prospect, Cross-Roads, and Greenville as our “epistles, known and read of all men.” We are not at all fearful for any husbandry of the Lord to visit our farm. Though feeble in health, we think we have a good crop.
But you may say, “Our evangelists have done more work than you have.” Grant it; but where is it? ‘Tis scattered from the Chattahoochee river to Jackson, Miss. You will never be able to collect your strength—to rally your forces. You cannot pay your preacher for past services, nor can you send them again. Your churches are in a deplorable condition.
Brethren, we have given you, in plain terms, what we think is the desideratum. We have the elements right among us to leaven the whole lump.
- Then we need more preachers. What a poor, pitiful representation we have in this country when compared with the intelligence in our ranks.
- We want every brother who can understand the simple truths of the Bible, to lay aside every weight that hinders—to wit, laziness, jesting, drinking, “innocent amusements,” cares of the world, the pleasures of life, the deceitfulness of riches, and all other things assimilated or akin to them; and, as they did in old times when scattered abroad, let us go everywhere preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ.
- We should study 1 Cor. ix: work our vineyard, and work and reap in hope. Again, expect our support just as the priest who ministered in the temple or waited at the altar; for Paul says, “Even so, God has ordained that they who preach the gospel should live by it”—except in case of some emergency—then,
- We should work with our hands, but still work for the Lord.
- We are not opposed to cooperation. Oh, no! Whilst we would not go into another man’s field to labor, still, if our brother has a log-rolling, we would unite our strength to help them, and we are solicitors for the assistance of our preaching brethren to help us.
- Still further, we would love to meet our brethren annually to give and bear counsel, to tell and hear the success of the gospel, and for any other legitimate object which might come before them; but not to send preachers, or for preachers to beg money.
- Cooperation meetings, in this country, have been preachers’ killers or cripplers. We cite you to P. B. Lawson, Pridgen Reeves, W. C. Kirkpatrick, and your worthy chairman.
- These, and all other meetings of the kind, beget a selfish dependence upon them for support, when the laborer is positively told to look to his own work for support.
- We should select a small farm, and cultivate it well; should choose such soil as suits our capacities—not to be clearing always and never cultivating—and all will be well. As in nature…
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In grace. 5th. The man who cultivates the natural soils meets with great difficulties; but they are overcome by patience, energy, and perseverance: so will the laborer in the Lord’s vineyard surmount all difficulties. But as the work is greater, so the required determination.
Brethren, we are satisfied if success ever attends us here, it will only be when such vitality will animate our hearts as to cause us to rise in the magnitude of our strength, and every man and woman hallow their battle in earnest, like Paul and his co-workers—like the Johnsons, Smiths, Stones, Rogers, Scotts, Ganoes, and their Kentucky co-laborers. We are thankful, too, if South Alabama can claim but few than advocates now. She yet can boast of some noble spirits who now slumber in the grave.
Hartlett Hilliar—we love the name. Self-sacrificing, “he died in his post.” And so Alexander Campbell, who stood, single man alone, the defender of the faith. Davis, Kight, Garrett, Moore, Reeves, lived and died in the faith. Let us arouse to the work, guided by the great luminaries that have gone before us, to shine in the great remedial solar system, from the Sun of Righteousness down to the last bright star which has passed from time to take its brilliant place in eternity. We never were so determined to work, though frequent solicitations come to us to teach school, with salaries from $1,800 to $3,000; yet we had rather work for the Lord for a living than for the world, with the promise of its influence, luxuries, praises, and flatteries. “Surely, ’tis better to be a doorkeeper in the house of our God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. And a day in his courts is better than a thousand.”
Yours in hope of Heaven,
JUSTUS MACK BARNES
Greenville, Ala., Oct. 16, 1866.
BRO. J. B. COMD: – We wrote the above to send to the meeting of the brethren; but it so happened that we were present; and being called on to present our views, we read the letter. If there is anything in it of value to the brethren, it is subject to your will; use it as you think best.
Last night, in reading Bro. Franklin’s paper, we found an article from the pen of that good man, Robert Milligan. We were glad to hear him speak. We knew him in the recitation room; he, in every word and act, will show the fruits of the Spirit. Such men are rare. His proposition is to put missionary societies on a Scriptural basis. That is right; and anything that is not on that basis, let us not have at all. In union there is strength.
Men build cities, railroads, telegraphs, etc., by cooperation; and Paul says to Phil. i: 27 wishes to hear of them standing fast in the one Spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Working together. Bro. J., we are glad to see this move, and I have a mind to make to you a suggestion for your consideration.
Whilst the New Testament ignores any such thing as clerical salaries—which were borrowed from Babylon—and ’tis silent as to the grave on the “young-give-me-so-much” system; still, how pleasant it would…
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be, and what confidence would it beget in me, whilst preaching in destitute regions where the cause is weak, to know that after I had made full proof of my ministry, (no laborer should be paid before the work is done; but having done it, he is worthy of his hire,) that in case I “lacked” anything, there is a band of Macedonian “brethren,” (2 Cor. xi: 8,) or brethren, (Verse 9,) to “supply” me—2 Cor. ix: 9—not to give me a salary, but to “supply” me. Or should I have need, to know that there is a “church at Philadelphia to communicate with me without yearn and receiving eyes, to send time and aid to my necessities”—not to my entertainment—not to pay me my salary, but to support me, Phil. iv: 17, 16. Here is work for a missionary society. Here are our ideas in a nutshell. If we had not written so much already, we would give you some of the advantages of “striving together thus in one mind for the faith.” But one we will mention. The one thousand dollar salary, instead of being given to one man to gratify his lust, will supply the need of three evangelists, (if he wants any more, let him work for it—It is a very sorry man that cannot get something by preaching,) and thus the Macedonian brotherhood at Cincinnati could overlook many needs, and supply their needs. Well, but your starched-collar college boys will not preach for that. Well, the wool hats will; and one of them is worth a half-dozen of fine-spun, kid-glove, white-collared, walloping-cane, breast-pin, dandy-titled preachers, anyhow; and this will have another advantage—it will distance those who are preaching for gain and ease, and encourage those working for the love of it. May our Father in heaven enable us to work together in love!
Your brother in Christ,
JUSTUS MACK BARNES.
Greenville, Ala., Oct. 23, 1866.
CHRISTIAN ALMANAC
We shall publish, shortly, an Almanac for 1867, containing a statistical report of the preachers and members of the Church of Christ in the United States and British Possessions of North America; also a list of the schools and colleges and periodicals of the Christian brotherhood and other matters of value to every disciple.
That this report may be as complete as possible, we ask every brother who may read this, and who has not already done so, to send us the name and post-office address of every Christian preacher he can obtain; also the names of the various congregations, and as far as possible, the number of members in each. Those in charge of Schools and Colleges are requested to send us copies of their last annual catalogues. Immediate reports are most earnestly solicited. Address
L. H. DOLING,
Indianapolis, Ind.
FELLOWSHIP
We have received five dollars from a sister in Ballard county, Ky., and one hundred dollars from another sister in Springfield, Ill., for the destitute South.