THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
Editor: T. Fanning
Nashville, August 7, 1866
Volume VIII, Number 32
AN ESSAY ON THE RELATION SUSTAINED BY CHRISTIANS TO CIVIL GOVERNMENTS—NO. II
By Ira Mitchell
This brings me to the consideration of a vital question to which Christians at all ages are deeply interested.
CAN A CHRISTIAN SUBJECT HIMSELF TO THE CALL OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT?
Most assuredly he should, if it is not plainly in violation of the expressed will of the Lord, for obedience to the civil authorities is obedience to God. Thus the question legitimately reached is, whether carnal warfare is not condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ, and for an answer to this question, “to the law and the testimony.”
James says, (fifth chapter, 1st verse,) “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members?” It is well known that the contentious spirit of the Jews has led to their ruin. They were continually stirring up seditions, warring with their neighbors, and especially the Romans, and quarrelling among themselves. To this the Apostle evidently alludes, and he charges it on the lusts of evil desires that war in their members. Is not this language an explicit condemnation of war, and does it not attribute war universally to human wickedness? If “wars and fightings” come from our own lusts that war in our members, is not a Christian controlled by…
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his lu~ts
wlum In• en;s:;l.’s in tlH•m? and an: we not cojoluetl to ‘• nllstain
rt•om llt·~hly lu:,;ts that. w;u• :1g:tiU~t lh~
!;t•UI ~··
Pau•. ~:tys, “the weapons of our warl’ar•· :u·e not. cnrnnl.” Jmngitw :1
‘ohlier :nrnctl witb the iu.;tt•mucut:; uf’ tlcallo, witb hi!> .;;littlYon!
~wnng- tu his : mot:’ tlt•cbmtion of tile. lluiJ Spil’iL.
“~he
Wl’ttpttn:” vr my w:trlarc :ll’l’ not ea.t·nuL”
It h uot pu!>sil•le to t’ll;!:li.(C iu t·:tl’nal w:~rl:trc without rh..tlatiug the Jaw
<>t’ lovc•-tlit• 1″‘ilil” m,,f,i(~ o1’ :1ll Christi:tu cou\luo:t. How W1111hl 111iliLary
men h;n·e t’cgm•,!cd llw “chaplaiu” vi’ out’ of the llr:n·~ l’egirncnt;, or
tht~hiu).{ ami tiel’y rolunte~rs
cn~agt:t.l iu Lhc ru<‘eut l’il’il Wttl’, it; :tL th<· mon\l.’llL tlu.•y were •lmwu up iu liue or battle nutl J•t·cpat’c•l to ru.sh im· pCltiOtl~I.v upoo thl· rauks ,.f hnmuam lJI’ing~ ,f..,Hutui!l:lctl “the the,” lw h;ltl :ulclrcssetl thctH in Utt• l:ln~uage ul’ lh~ hlt~:i:<<.:tl ~:11’io1′: “Ye ha.n· hear•l i.haL it hatl.liJe<‘ll .saiti, tho• I ~lt:lll lo1·c thy Hcighllol’ and hale tl..titH: •·uerny, l.l’.lt l say Llllto you, lo1·c your cnmuic,;, hie;;:~ lhcm that l:lll’:>o! yo11,
.io ~O•Jd to Llwtn t.hat h:ttt· you, :tlltl Jll’llY t’tll’ thC!tll them ~h:1t tlcspitdully
usc you ;Ul\l po•t’~!i<:lltc ynu.” :-.twh au ;t,hlr..,;;s would lie puvrly c:llcul:tLctl to inspil’tctl to suth au occusiuu. Tltt· ln~l:> lJecfl.tu IJc Min.ui:J.tcd.
We learu fl’um Utt· lhistor..r 111′ cal’ly (‘ht•htian:; (iuspii•”J :mtl unini fru111 CU).(il;.dng ill it.. ‘l’llc• (‘ thcl’c about itis du~·triuc c:tl-
cui:J.lctl to l’:lll l(ll’Lh the CXpl’I:S: is, thnt.
uuriu;; .he tir,;l three ecuturic~ of’ tlw t’hl’istiau era, tile tlisciples or
Christ ptlrsi,.lt·nlly l’o..>fii:>I’U to hem• tln:>. Col’ lo take part in the afllli t’!’ of
~vvcntmcut,
:IIHI soldiers iu the Human anny, upon beiu.;; conn·rtetl to tiH·
Chrisli:t.ll religion, l:lhl t!owu their oldiet’. On tl.tc pl’Ocon.
~ut’o: usklng hi,; uame, !ll;~:dmili:lfl t·cplietl, “I um ;t Chl’lsti:IIJ, ;UH) cmmot
ught.” H was, huwcl·er, orJct·c,l thaL ht• sltouhl Lc enrolled, l..tut ht> rc-
(n::!ed to SC\’\’E, still n llcging tl!Jlt lte tc<L.;~ u (:h.ri11Urn!. llc wns im
m ctl
iatciy
lolfl th11.t there was nu altcnt:ltivc uctwecn l.ocariu~ 1mns anLI bl’iug pnt to
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Death. But his fidelity was not to be shaken. “I cannot fight,” said he. “If I die.” He continued steadfast to his principles, and was consigned to the executioner.
Marcellus was a Centurion in the legion called Triginta. While holding this commission he became a Christian, and believing, in common with his fellow-Christians, that war was no longer permitted to him, he threw down his belt at the head of the legion, declaring that he had become a Christian, and that he would serve no longer. He was committed to prison, but was still faithful to Christianity. “It is not lawful,” said he, “for a Christian to bear arms for any earthly consideration;” and he was, in consequence, put to death.
Almost immediately afterward, Cassius, who was also in the same legion, gave up his office. He steadfastly maintained the sentiments of Marcellus, and, like him, was consigned to the executioner. Martin, of whom so much is said by Sulpicius Severus, was ordered to the profession of arms, which, on the acceptance of Christianity, he renounced. To Julian, the apostate, the only reason that we can give for his conduct was this: “I am a Christian, and therefore I cannot fight.”
The representatives of the Roman Empire, resident in Jerusalem, wrote to the home government that “the Christians, although obedient to all the laws, declined to take part in the affairs of government or in war.” Not until the church became corrupted by wealth and power, and the adulterous alliance with the state was inaugurated, do the pages of history present an instance of any professed follower of the Redeemer of the world bearing arms. The parable of the wheat and tares, in the 13th chapter of Matthew, and its explanation, plainly teach that the children of the Kingdom should not engage in the destruction of the children of the wicked one. The candid readers are requested to study this parable. The reason on which Jehovah bases the law against homicide, when he gave it to Noah, applies with equal force against killing men in war: “For in the image of God made he man.” Gen. ix: 6. It is inconceivable how the wholesale destruction of God’s image, by armed armies, can mitigate the crime. Thus much for precept and precedent.
But, dear brethren, the argument that weighs with irresistible force on my mind and heart, is derived from the Scriptures, the peaceful tendency of which is indicated by such expressions of the Holy Scripture as the following:
“I say unto you that ye resist not evil.” – Jesus.
“Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God.” – Jesus.
“Have peace one with another.” – Jesus.
“See that none render evil to any man.” – Paul.
“God hath called us to peace.” – Paul.
“Follow after love, patience, meekness.” – Be gentle, showing all.
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“Live in peace,” “Let all bitterness, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.” “Arise not yourselves.” “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.” “Recompense to no man evil for evil.” “Overcome evil with good.” – Paul.
It is impossible to engage in war without disregarding every one of these and similar precepts with which the New Testament abounds, and I recommend every Christian who has any inclination to enlist in military service, to engrave them on his mind and stamp them on his heart, that he may be imbued with their heavenly disposition. The result will be the destruction and mortification of his belligerent nature.
When we take a view of the character of the Christian man, as unfolded in the volume of Revelation, we find that he is “the temple of the living God!”—a habitation of God through the Spirit—that the God of Love, by his Spirit, dwells in every true Christian. He who has the Spirit of God is led by the Spirit, and unless our actions are all in harmony with the will of the Spirit, we grieve the Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now the fruit of this is “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” The fruit of the Spirit is hatred, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, heresy, wickedness, pride, and all that is opposed to the heavenly graces. I cannot conceive it possible for men filled with the Holy Spirit, to march to the tune of Yankee Doodle, or Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, clad in uniforms and reeking with the implements of death, to rush fiercely upon another body of men, also filled with the Holy Spirit, and engage with them in the bitter and terrible struggle of death. Such might frequently be the case if Christians can go to war at the call of the government under which they live.
If the United States should become involved in a war with France, on account of the Mexican question, Christians in the United States would enter the army of the Republic; and Christians from France would be found in the army of the Emperor. Both in obedience to “the powers that be,” and in the same obligation they would engage in the Christian work of shouting, piercing, cutting, and mauling the children of God!!! Who is prepared to say that this would not deeply grieve the blessed Spirit, which dwells within them? And no man is a Christian unless the Spirit of Christ, as “the earnest of our inheritance,” inhabits the chamber of his soul.
Should difficulties between the United States and Great Britain culminate in an appeal to arms, brethren in the Lord, separated from each other only by an imaginary line on one Northern border, at the behest of tempers, might march in hostile array to the slaughter of one another. Nay, it cannot be that any man, governed by the Holy Spirit, has from the moment of his conversion to think of considerable Exemplar warfare.
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Page 501
…ing amid the sound of the small drum, and the booming of artillery, to the slaughter of those for whom he died, or of the beloved John, saying to what he said to his fellow men, while uttering his favorite exclamation, “Beloved, let us love one another.” No one who has faith in the name Jesus will pretend that under any circumstances could such scenes have been witnessed. This ought rather to settle the whole controversy.
If we have been born of the Spirit, we have been adopted into the family of which he is the head, and dwell in his love; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What glorious assurance! And with what earnestness it should inspire us to imitate the Master, and thus show to the world that the high name we have assumed is not a vain and meaningless pretense, but that we are, indeed, the “sons of God” in the midst of a cruel and perverse generation.
When the thunders of bloody war shall have ceased, and the fires of the war-camp shall have died out, then is the time for the children of light to shine forth in their religion and the calmness of their redeemed souls, instead of sinking all their hopes in the dark and turbulent stream of demoniacal strife.
Holy brethren, look at the two pictures, and be found always in the camp of the saints.
His people… seek a palatine in the wars of the children of Israel. When they asked for a king, the answer of God to his prophet Samuel was, “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” 1 Sam. viii: 7.
After showing them the manner of the king that should reign over them, and pointing out to them the consequences that would follow the greatness of their request, they were permitted to have a king like other nations. Their blood stained history is a record of the calamities that have followed their rejection of God, who sought to be their king.
It is a fact that the Almighty used Jesus in the destruction of the enemies of his people, and that the way to heaven for Israel in the spirit. The example in hand illustrates that war is the curse and destruction of any people who set up their own government and reject the guidance of Jehovah.
But it may be said that the Israelites had wars before they had kings. Be it so. They went to war under the immediate leadership of God, who fought for them and delivered them. Their remarkable victories were by the precious blood of the Lamb. The gorgeous temple erected by…
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Solomon was but a type of the spiritual temple composed of the saints, and David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, was not permitted to build that, “because he had much blood upon the earth.” (1 Chron. xxii: 8). There are so few professed Christians who, in their calm and dispassionate moments, when their better judgment is not overcome by the excitement of a terrible popular convulsion, do not concur in denouncing carnal warfare as incompatible with the genius and spirit of Christianity, that I will not prolong the argument on this branch of my subject to the extent of which it is susceptible. Besides, in my humble judgment, the whole war question is fully met and cut up by the roots, in the second division of my subject—the sovereignty of the citizen. If any readers should be willing to pursue this subject further, I recommend to them an address on war, by Alexander Campbell, published in the Millennial Harbinger and republished in a volume of the Lectures on the Churches of the author; and also to the essays by Jonathan Dymont, a Quaker gentleman, who has written elaborately on the subject, in a volume entitled “Essays on Humanity.”
A few general reflections concerning war, and I will advance another step, well assured that wherever the Spirit of Christ is found, the spirit of warfare cannot exist. “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Rom. viii: 9). Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I might not be delivered to the Jews.” Christian reader, you belong to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ—you are one of His servants, and as such, you cannot serve two masters.
FEMALE CHARACTER
In examining the characters of some of the most eminent women we find them very actively engaged in the discharge of their Christian duties. We wish to notice some of the most remarkable women of the Apostolic age. Romans xvi, 1, we find a very interesting account given of Phoebe. The narrative reads as follows: “I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea; that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you, for she hath been a succorer of many, and of myself also.” No doubt this Christian woman had often lodged the apostles and relieved them in distress. A fair specimen this of female character and worthy of imitation. If women of the present times would follow her example there would soon be a visible change in society.
Two other amiable characters are brought to view in the 2nd Epistle of Paul’s letter to Timothy, 1st chapter, commencing at the 1st verse: “Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the…
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Promise of Life
of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son; grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
We find much written in history of the great deeds of Mary and Martha Washington—the mother and wife of the hero of ’76. They possessed characteristics which caused the world to rejoice; but we find nothing in their characters so amiable and Christianlike as in the characters of the mother and grandmother of Timothy. The manner in which this young Christian was brought up by these women called forth great rejoicing from the Apostle Paul. Those noble characteristics which belonged to Timothy can be traced back to his old grandmother Lois. This Christian woman took a great interest in the training of her grandson. No doubt she had often taken him on her maternal knee and taught him lessons from the oracles of God; for we are informed in the New Testament, that Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures from his childhood. We find that this unfeigned faith to which Paul referred, dwelt first in the grandmother, and then in his mother, and also in the son. Those two females which we have noticed above should be examples to all Christian mothers. All mothers should follow in their footsteps instead of striving to make their children gay and fashionable; teach them the scripture of truth, which will be worth more in a coming day than the most costly silks or the truest apparel.
The characters we have collected are far different from women generally; but we are happy to say there are some that are teaching their children the way of the Lord. There is much for our sisters to perform in order that the rising generation may be prepared for the reception of the gospel. Outward show constitutes no part of real character. Paul is quite explicit on this subject in the 2nd chapter of his 1st Epistle to Timothy, commencing at the 8th verse. We find the following:
“I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”
This being the admonition of the old Apostle, whose faith had often been tried and found steadfast, my sisters strive not to exceed each other in dressing, but rather be busily engaged in teaching the word of God to those with whom you associate. Adorn yourselves with good works, which the apostle informs us becometh women professing godliness. The characters of the mother of John and our Savior are alike interesting. Elizabeth rejoiced greatly.
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In the Lord. After hearing the message of the angel, in reference to the birth of John, we find that Elizabeth’s faith was strong in the Lord. Mary, her cousin, paid her a visit in a short time after the angel appeared to her, and saluted her. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, and she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”
After relating the incidents which occurred at the time Mary appeared at her house, she continues saying: “And blessed is she that believed; for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.” She, therefore, clearly expresses her faith in her declarations to Mary. Our sisters should strive to possess such faith, and the brethren also.
Listen now to the words of Mary, the mother of our Lord:
“Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior; for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts; he hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.”
The above words were uttered by Mary, the mother of our Lord, and contain instruction worthy of our consideration. The characters we have examined, we think, true specimens of female character. And we presume no one, either male or female, cannot be truly independent of the true Christian spirit, which characterized these female disciples. Then let us, brothers and sisters, strive to imitate these worthy examples so carefully and forcibly set forth in the word of truth.
F. M. HARRISON
3bury county, June 17, 1816.
THE BAPTISTS AND THEIR ANCESTRY
Bro. L. T. S. G. has fully answered the inquiry about some previous numbers you have said something of the ancestry of the Baptists of which I am not certain that it is correct. You speak of the Baptists who were organized from the days of Martin Luther.
And who were they, pray? David Benedict, the historian of foreign and American Baptists, says, on page 111: “The first regularly organized Baptist Church, of which we possess any account, is dated from 1607, and was formed in London by a Dr. Smyth, who had been a clergyman in the Church of England.”
Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483. According to the Baptist history, Martin Luther was born 334 years before…
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we read of the first Baptist Church. How do you reconcile your statement and the Baptist historian? If you can show the first Baptist in any authority prior to the beginning of the seventeenth century, please name him.
James “plucked jury” put the phrase, John the Baptist, in the common version of the Bible, in the year 1611, to help furnish the Baptists with a sectarian element or name.
Orchard, says that the dissenters whom you claim to be modern Baptists called themselves Christians (not Baptists). Their enemies called them Anabaptists, and so on.
I wish you and the Baptists to satisfy yourselves that there were any Baptists before the seventeenth century.
All Anabaptists are not Baptists, for they are the Baptists’ ancestors, and I dare say there were. A modern historian may trace them back to the time of Christ, but that does not constitute them as being Christians.
The sects to whom you refer as the ancestors of Baptists, constituted a rejection and pardon of all with baptism.
Do modern Baptists believe in the Holy Spirit? Do the regular Baptists require a confession of faith before baptism, or is all experience of grace on the part of the individual necessary?
The modern Baptists speak of plunging in the water to wash away sins.
If you suppose that these ancient Christians were modern Baptists, you must have a different idea of what a Baptist is.
According to the Baptist historian, the first Baptist Church was formed in the seventeenth century by a man who had been an Episcopalian. The Baptists are arguing to select their descendants from St. Peter at Rome, and I think I can…
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Prove that I am descended from St. N’sm either than either of them can prove their descent from their saints. When I was a Baptist I used to talk of the Baptists from the days of Christ and the Apostles, but I have learned since that there were no Baptists before the seventeenth century, and that there have been Christians since Christ, and that they were not modern navigators, but were known as the Baptists (or others call us Campbellites), by which they mean that we are the mere followers of a man unevangelical, unorthodox, heretical, impious, and infidel.
Just as Catholics name the same thing when they called the ancient Christians ugly names, such as Waldenses, Petrobrusians, Lollards, etc. The Christians that Paul speaks of, took till the Xth century for the rule of their faith and practice.
They were converted by it, were poor people, shoemakers, weavers, and were opposed to human learning. They opposed every lord’s day, and were, one and all, opposed to war in all its forms, and would not submit to human authority in either. None of which things the modern Baptists hold or practice. They opposed the condition of baptism, answering to modern Calvinism with Christianity.
“Gooslichm means the way to the true knowledge of the Deity,” which is the highest cult, the most insidious, dangerous, and powerful foe to Christianity.
It means a hidden spiritual meaning to the word, besides the literal meaning, which only the initiated know or can know. Their hobby texts lead to the mysticism that is used in naturalism.
Yea, hath he quickened who were dead. The wind blows upon these that no man can come to me. They all go to the hollow tree when pursued by the dogs. They go by the jingle of these texts, and not by their sense of their meaning. The old Baptist isms are all gone, and they all the sects are all doing something they call Campbellism.
The poor souls have at last fallen upon a tome or name called Leander H., to put down Campbellism, written with her night-cap on.
I am still satisfied that the Baptists did not spring from the Roman Catholic Church, as did the Pseudo-Baptist sects. That they have renounced all ancient principles and practices of these ancient Christians was the very point we were aiming to make. That they do not maintain those ancient principles is evident that they did not succeed from the dissenters.
Distinctive sons spring from noble fires. We stated that they received their sectarian name “Baptist,” only when they had, for too intimate association with the Pseudo-Baptist sects, forsaken the ancient landmarks of truth, and thus become a sect. We expect to show that in every distinctive point or difference between them and the disciples, they have forsaken the truth as taught by these dissenters.
D. L.
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For the Gospel Advocate
Louisa County, Va., July 17, 1866.
Dear Bro. David Lipscomb:
It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of seeing you, though I hear from you every week through the “Gospel Advocate,” with which I am much pleased, and from which I have derived much instruction and edification. I regard your views as therein expressed, on all questions pertaining to the Christian life, as scriptural and practical. I have been particularly instructed with your views on “Church of Christ and World Powers.” I endorse them fully. I have held the same for many years, and expressed them freely at the beginning and during the war, but the war spirit being high in my section, the expression of them generally invoked ridicule and contempt. But considering them well sustained by the word of God, I adhered firmly to them, but for the want of circulation and time, have not been able to bring the Scriptures tending to bear on the subject as you have done.
The war I regarded as unnecessary, as superinduced by the very disturbed and wicked state of society existing at the time, in a word, as caused by sin, and advocated by wicked men of the world, without the fear of God in their hearts and His law before their eyes, and called by a large number of deluded professors of religion, some of them professing to preach the Gospel of Peace, but all of them, I think, goaded on by the great enemy of souls. Like David, I regarded war as the greatest calamity, and like him, in one respect, had I been given the option, would, I think, have preferred being in the hands of the Lord. When I saw my brethren, led by some of the preachers, abandon their holy and heavenly calling, and many plunge into this conflict, my heart sickened and I gave up all hope that my country would escape the terrible ordeal through which it has passed and is passing.
“They that draw the sword shall perish by the sword, and vengeance is mine I will repay, saith the Lord,” and many other passages of scripture rung in my ears from day to day, and I could not see how my brethren could escape, who had disregarded this teaching, and taken this matter in their own hands.
The Christian world needs instruction on this subject. They need this subject to be treated in no cringing, time-serving and manner. They need to be taught as by the authority of heaven. I as firmly believe in the scriptural soundness of your views on this subject, as I believe in salvation by Jesus Christ, and if the word of God teaches that Christians should not engage in war, then why not teach and enforce the one when necessary with confidence and boldness, as we do the other. I think your views as expressed on this subject will do good, and if in accordance with your views of propriety, desire you to embody and print.
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them in pamphlet form, and I will pay you for ten or fifteen copies for distribution. I think also, when the evils of war can be seen and felt by so many, it is the time to enforce this teaching. Unless something is done now, you might as well give it up. When the country has recovered from devastation, and the present has been supplanted by another generation, knowing nothing, experimentally, of the war, they will probably do as the present one has done, unless something can be done to induce professors of religion to act in the fear of God.
Notwithstanding the bad effects of the war, the cause of Christ has made considerable progress in this section, since you last visited us. What we want now is piety and a consistent life on the part of Christians, and a larger number of self-sacrificing preachers to hold forth the word of life. We are all made aware of more or less poor and destitute by the war, and preachers should be willing to share in the common calamity, and give evidence that they are in earnest, by an example of self-denial and devotion to the cause, and thus become examples to the churches. Some are doing this and some are not. O that God would inspire them with a holy zeal for His service. I am writing at the residence of your grandfather. We have built a meeting house on part of the land owned by him, and have organized a church. Most of the people in my neighborhood belong to this church. It is known as “Euan.” We have met and worshipped every Lord’s day for eight or nine years unless prevented by the weather. Can you not pay us a visit in old Virginia? How glad we should be to see you again in the flesh. How is brother W. J. McComb and family; our Christian love to him.
Your brother in Christ,
J. L. Baker.
There is but one thing connected with our earthly pilgrimage that would give us more pleasure than to hear of the revival and election in the Lord of our friends, the cherished friends of our brotherhood, that one would be to visit them in the flesh and revive the old feelings, to visit anew the old homesteads, recall our fathers and renew the ties and associations of kindred, teachers, schoolfellows, friends and brethren, memories rendered sacred and indelible by many of the happiest hours of our childhood. It rejoices our hearts to know, too, that so many of our old friends have become my brethren. How pleased we would be to interchange the kindly, Christian greeting, and hold communion with them on matters pertaining to our Father’s kingdom, our better home. Yet how sadly I conclude what the cup of sorrow would be these pleasures of the heart? How many loved ones would be missing in the circle of our acquaintance? How many whose hearts were light and whose brows were radiant with joy and hope, are now oppressed with sorrow and parrowed with care? How unsatisfactory the friendship, how lacking the pleasures of this life, were there no home beyond, where pilgrims freed from sorrow and pain will rest in peace with God.
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We design to publish our articles on Church of Christ and World Power when convenient, and when we can find time to do so in pamphlet form. There are objections and difficulties as set lying in the way of many, which have not been removed and which can still be met. There is not a scriptural expression, precept or command that militates against the positions we have presented, when rightly and properly understood, and we think we are prepared to make this plain. The unceasing demand upon our time leaves us but little opportunity to prepare this matter, but we trust in a few weeks to be able to resume the investigation.
It has been in our heart for several years past to visit our friends and brethren in old Virginia, but have been hindered. We live in hope that we will see the way open for so doing hereafter; but now know not when. Whatever brethren in the Old Dominion may wish in regard to the circulation of the “Gospel Advocate,” if we can render them any assistance, we will gladly do it in a nonpartisan spirit, and only wish to know and teach the truth on all subjects connected with Christianity. We will freely, gladly hear others and let our readers hear both sides of every question we present.
THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST AND OF FIRE
It is, I believe, the popular style of orthodox preaching to insist upon the necessity and value of the spirit’s influence. In the shape of a baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, and this prevalent impression, it is thought, is often the very thing that leads people to think they are saved, and to think they are going to heaven, when they are not.
Now, it is to be remembered that the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire, spoken of in the third chapter of Matthew, was addressed to a mixed multitude; and not simply to the disciples; or John; but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Then there were those who believed that the teaching of the Baptists, and repeated and accepted his “Baptism of Repentance,” was the only way to be saved. There were those who thought that they had passed into their father’s house, and were in the light of the new dispensation, and that they were good and acceptable to God because they were baptized.
It was a true teaching of the disciples of John and the Jews, and it was a judgment upon the people—the good and the bad, and not a judgment of preference or blessing to both. This proposition must be divided.
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that we may see what was promised to the true disciples of John, and what was threatened to the unbelievers. The promise to John’s disciples was that they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost; the threat was that the unbelieving ones should be baptized with fire, symbolizing their severe retributive punishment.
That the baptism of John was not a promise of good to believers, is evident, from Acts 1st chap. 5th verse, when the Saviour says, “John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” This language was addressed, not to a mixed or promiscuous multitude, but to the disciples of Christ, and carried in it not an announcement to the wicked, but the great promise of the baptism of the Holy Ghost to the disciples of Christ.
Verse 10
“And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”
Verse 11
“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”
Verse 12
“Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- The axe is at the root of the barren, or unproductive tree, or the tree that does not produce good sound fruit, and it is cut down and cast into the fire.
- The person who shall baptize unto repentance and the promiscuous multitude would be subjected to the scrutiny of the minister that John. He would again baptize them with the Holy Ghost—the bad to the good.
- The Saviour is represented as a husbandman, in hand, cleansing his floor, and saving in his barn the wheat, telling the chaff is burned up with unquenchable fire.
Let us briefly contemplate: The evil tree is cast into or baptized with fire; the good tree is not; the wicked unbelievers of John the Baptist and Christ was to be burned up.
The chaff of the threshing floor was to be passed into the fire and burned.
These considerations are thus to be sufficient to enable anyone who hesitates to arrive at satisfactory conclusions on the subject of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.
J. H. CURTIS
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
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JACKSON, Miss., June 25, 1866.
BROTHER LEMCOUND: Since the close of the great struggle I have had some time, on my quiet farm, to read our papers and find out what has been said, and now I am going on in the religious world. I have read with feelings of profound amazement and deep regret the various plans proposed, and the acrimonious controversy growing out of these schemes for the spread of the gospel in the world. Astonished that a plan so simple in itself should have been made so complex, by men who try to be plain.
Make it simple, first, because it reveals. Secondly, because it exists in the very nature of the thing to be done. Shall I then call the attention of contending parties to the work on hand? It occurs to my mind that this is really all that is needed to show any well-balanced mind now that work is to be done.
First, wherever there is a congregation of disciples they need a teacher, pastor, or preacher, whichever you please to call them. Should this church be able to support the preacher of their choice, then for them to seek compensation with any other church for this part of the work. The upbuilding of the saints would be a matter of folly on their part. Because no necessity exists for cooperation.
Suppose this church decides that half the preacher’s time devoted to them, and their immediate community, will keep them “growing in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.” Diverts her preacher to devote the other half of his time to the conversion of the world. The building up of churches where none exists. Then so far as she is concerned she has accomplished both parts of the great work the Lord appointed the church to do.
Suppose she has the means and wants all the preacher’s time; but is willing to use the means for the conversion of the world. Let her employ an evangelist, and send him out into the highways and hedges. No cooperation needed here, and that church would act unselfishly, and “sickly” to let any of our new struggles have anything to do with her funds, either in raising, controlling, or disbursing.
But suppose the church has not the ability to sustain a preacher, now comes the necessity for cooperation. She invites a sister church to cooperate with her, from the very necessity of the case. They divide his time between them. Cooperation ends here, so far as they are concerned in the first part of the work. But they are anxious to convert others, as well as have themselves perfected.
When their strength is brought together they find that they can sustain their servant, and have some money to spare. But not enough to send out an evangelist. What must they do? Cooperate again with two or more churches similarly circumstanced. Extend the cooperation just far enough to accomplish the object.
And then, dear brethren, do for the Lord’s sake have some regard for common sense, and the Lord’s plan, and stop cooperation where it necessarily ends, and don’t make it ridiculous. Don’t play the silly farce I once saw played, of eight churches cooperating to send out two evangelists. Instead of four…
THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE
sending one t’itch. They threw the eight together and so complicated the foolishly constructed machine, and had so many to tinker with it that it would not run at all. I have never known a departure from the simple gospel plan in the history of any denomination, our own not excepted, that did not follow, and folly manifested itself. Take but one fact in our history. While Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama and many other states have never had a chance, not a tenth part of their population, to hear the plan of salvation as preached by us, these societies are working hard and earnestly to sustain anarchy in Jerusalem, and a Beulahland at Jamaica. Had these faithful and diligent brethren labored as hard at home as they have abroad, they would have added to the fold of Christ, a multitude of better material, at one-third the cost to the churches in money, and sacrifice or enjoyment to themselves. There is not now a standing preacher to my knowledge in my state. Would it be expecting the exercise of too much common and scriptural sense, to ask these organizations to send us some preachers into these desolated hills?
Whenever nations drift from their constitution, and churches from the Bible, routine seems to rule the time. Adopt the plan, scriptural, and more will be accomplished in one year than can be accomplished by these complicated machines that takes half the funds they can control to pay the old to keep them running, and half the other half to pay the employees to grease the wheels, and even then the numerous things keep up such a clamor and clatter that some of the good brethren are much disposed, if they can get rid of it any other way, to put mules across the track and run it on.
In Christ Jesus,
T. W. CASK
Tipton County, Tenn., July 12th, 1866.
Brethren Fanning & Lincoln:—It is with deep feelings of regret that I announce to you, that on the 25th of May last, our beloved and esteemed brother, A. C. Smith, departed this life, leaving a sister wife (one of the most women I ever knew) and a large family of children, together with a numerous circle of friends to mourn his loss. But we mourn not as those who have no hope. Bro. Smith once lived the Gospel.
In 1830, and was one of the most zealous advocates for the family once you all direct. Shortly after our organization in Covington, he was elected one of our Bishops, whose work he performed up to the time of his death. I can truly say no congregational man had his superior, and but few his equal. He died as he lived, with unshaken confidence in the promises of our Heavenly Father, to all those who obey the Gospel.
Yours in Christ,
T. E. RICHARDSON.