In the preceding chapters--VI-XV--are seen the principles of The Reformation.
It is impossible ever to be denied that these are the principles of The Reformation.
A man may dissent from any one of those principles, he may dissent from them all: he may hold that whole great movement to have been a mistake--even such a mistake as that it should "no longer blind the minds of believers:" yet no man can dissent from the fact that the preaching and holding fast those principles made The Reformation.
It is those principles, all and singular, just those--no more and no less--that made The Reformation. The Reformation consisted in those. If one of them had been lacking The Reformation would not have been what it was: that is to say, it would not have been at all.
Look again at the splendid list.
1. The Church "the fulness of Him who filleth all in all."
2. The Head of The Church, "Head over all things to The Church."
3. The building of The Church: Christ The foundation and Christ The Head-Stone, and "all the building" built in Him.
4. The Guidance of The Church: "The Spirit of truth guiding into all truth," and "teaching all things whatsoever He has said."
5. The Unity of The Church: unity with the Father and the Son, in the Spirit of the Father and the Son.
6. The Standard of Faith: "The word of God, the whole Word of God, and nothing but the word of God."
7. The Way of Salvation and Righteousness: "The Commandments of God and The Faith of Jesus:" the Law of God and the Gospel of Christ: the Government and Righteousness of God maintained by the Sacrifice and Ministry of Christ.
8. The Equality of Believers: all true worshipers, and all true servants of all in the liberty of love and the love of Liberty.
9. Religious Liberty: each individual soul free in God by the Spirit of God, in the Liberty wherewith Christ and His truth hath made us free.
10. The Exposure of Antichrist.
Those principles are a complete round of Christian truth: in principle be it ever understood, not in detail.
Each one of them is all-comprehending. And all together are The Masterpiece of Christian truth since original Christian times.
And that masterpiece is not a creed, it is not a new form of "systematic theology" nor of "dogmatic theology" nor of "theology" at all: it is The Reformation.
Not one of the Reformers ever thought of "theology." All that they cared for was the truth of God as expressed in His Word and made plain by His Spirit. In The Reformation these principles were held and preached simply as the truths of Christianity.
It was the one single aim and the one longing hope of all the Reformers, each one in his time and place, to restore the apostolic pattern and renew all things according to that.
And it can not be denied that they succeeded in restoring the original Christian pattern. For as it can not be denied that these are the principles of The Reformation, just so it can not be denied that they are the principles of Christianity as in the Bible.
But to restore the apostolic pattern, to re-establish the original Christian principles, to renew the primitive order, is all that the Reformers themselves could actually do. They could not live long enough to insure the loyal perpetuation of it. That must remain for those who should come after.
And it must not be forgotten that Christianity revived in The Reformation was in the same world as had been Christianity at the first.
There were still here the same sort of natural-minded men who would pass off formalism and ceremonialism for Christianity, in the place of the spiritual power of an endless life.
Christianity revived had to run the same gauntlet of human selfishness and ambition as had Christianity in its beginning in the world.
And through and above all the formalism, ceremonialism, selfishness, and ambition, of natural-minded men, there was still that same original spirit of Antichrist to manipulate, centralize, and swing, all against Christ; but still under the name of Christian and Protestant.
The result was the same as before. There came again "a falling away." Again there entered human machinery in the place of the divine Spirit, and the rule of men in the place of the rule of Christ as Head of "His own house" and Father in His own "family."
Also as before there continued the longing and struggle for the liberty that belongs to Christians and that inheres in the idea of Protestant. For everywhere men crowded themselves in among Christians in the churches, and wherever possible seized control of the civil power, and Christian liberty could be had only at the expense of excommunication, persecution, and deprivation. Every one must "come under or get out."
This is illustrated by the course of the Independents or Congregationalists in the latter days of Cromwell. They presented a written formal petition to Cromwell "for liberty to hold a synod in order to prepare and publish to the world a uniform confession of their faith." And this-- they actually wrote it--because the churches were "under no other conduct than the Word and Spirit!" For churches to be under no other conduct than the Word and Spirit of God, was not enough. There must be a general "assembly," formal "association," of men. There must be "synod," "council," "delegation," official "election," and human domination.
For churches to be under no other conduct than the Word and Spirit of God, would never do; for then only Christ and God would have a chance to occupy their own place in and over the churches. Therefore the churches must be under the conduct of men in mere human "administration" and "organization."
Those in England were "urged" to this step by the Congregationalists in New England. These had already taken that step, and had followed it to its straight conclusion in the banishment of Roger Williams, and the hanging of Quakers who would not be banished.
They followed it even to its logical culmination in the federation of the four colonies--Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut--that fairly repeated the papacy itself in the theocracy of New England.
And after having banished Roger Williams out of their "jurisdiction," they actually tried to compel him and the colony of Rhode Island to come under their jurisdiction in their confederated theocracy, so as to complete their endeavor to save New England from the Quakers.
In this strait, in behalf of Rhode Island Roger Williams appealed to Cromwell: pleading, "Whatever fortune may befall, let us not be compelled to exercise any civil power over men's consciences."
In all respects the Congregationalist theocracy of New England justified the indignant sentence of Bancroft the historian of the United States, that "The creation of a national and uncompromising church led the Congregationalists of Massachusetts to the indulgence of the passions which disgraced their English persecutors; and Laud was justified by the men whom he had wronged."
And all of that rather than that the churches should be "under no other conduct than the Word and Spirit" of God! ! Could anything more plainly show that every such venture is of Satan, and is directly of his scheme to put himself always and everywhere in the place of Christ?
The most notable advance of The Reformation was in the Methodist movement, that was begun by Whitefield and the Wesleys.
This was not only an advance, it was actually an extension, of The Reformation. For it was by the Moravian remnant of the original Reformation in Bohemia that the Wesleys were led into the knowledge of the converting power and deep experience of the Holy Spirit.
The Christian missions and the "societies" of this remnant in London and other places were the greatest encouragement to Whitefield and the Wesleys at the beginning of their work.
Both of the Wesleys met Zinzendorf, and in only a little more than two months after his conversion John Wesley visited Herrnhut, the home of the Moravian Brotherhood, in Upper Lusatia close to the border of Bohemia, and stayed with them about a month.
In fundamental principles as well as in descent the movement called "Methodist" was an extension of The Reformation.
Of The Church Wesley said: "As 'where two or three are met together in His name' there is Christ; so (to speak with St. Cyprian), 'where two or three believers are met together, there is a church. Thus it is that St. Paul, writing to Philemon, mentions the church which is in his house;'" plainly signifying that even a Christian family may be termed a church.
"Several of those whom God hath called out (so the original word properly signifies), uniting together in one congregation, formed a larger church: as the church at Jerusalem. That is, all those in Jerusalem whom God had so called.
"He [Paul] frequently uses the word in the plural number. So, Gal. 1:2, Paul an apostle, . . . unto the churches of Galatia:" that is, the Christian congregations dispersed throughout that country.
"There is one God and Father of all 'that have the Spirit of adoption which crieth in their hearts, Abba Father,' which 'witnesseth' continually 'with their spirits' that they are the children of God 'who is above all'--the Most High, the Creator, the Sustainer, the Governor of the whole universe: 'and through all'--pervading all space, filling heaven and earth; 'and in you all'--in a peculiar manner living in you that are one body by one Spirit: "Making your souls His loved abode. The temples of indwelling God." "Here, then, is a clear unexceptionable answer to that question, What is The Church?--The catholic or universal Church is all the persons in the universe whom God hath so called out of the world as to entitle them to the preceding character: as to be 'one body,' united by 'one Spirit,' having one faith, one hope, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all."
"Certainly if these things are so, the church of Rome is not so much as a part of the catholic Church."--Sermon lxxix.
Of the mystery of iniquity, he said: "Persecution never did and never could give any lasting wound to genuine Christianity. But the greatest it ever received, the grand blow that was struck at the very root of that humble, gentle, patient, love which is the fulfilling of the Christian law, the whole essence of true religion, was struck in the fourth century by Constantine the Great when he called himself a Christian and poured in a flood of riches, honors, and power, upon the Christians, especially the clergy.
"When the fear of persecution was removed, and wealth and honor attended the Christian profession, the Christians did not gradually sink, but rushed headlong, into all manner of vices.
"Then the 'mystery of iniquity' was no longer hid, but stalked abroad in the face of the sun.
"Then, not the golden, but the iron, age of the church commenced.
"Then one might truly say,
"At once in that unhappy age broke in all wickedness, and every deadly sin; Truth, modesty, and love, fled far away. And force, and thirst for gold, claimed universal sway.
"And this is the event which most Christian expositors mention with such triumph! Yea, which some of them supposed to be typified in the Revelation by 'the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven!'
"Rather say, it was the coming of Satan and all his legions from the bottomless pit: seeing from that very time he hath set up his throne over the face of the whole earth, and reigned over the Christian as well as the pagan world with hardly any control."
"Historians, indeed, tell us, very gravely, of nations, in every century, who were by such and such (saints no doubt!) converted to Christianity. But still these converts practiced all kinds of abominations exactly as they did before: no way differing either in their tempers or their lives, from the nations that were still called heathens.
"Such has been the deplorable state of the Christian church from the time of Constantine till The Reformation. A Christian nation, a Christian city (according to the Scriptural model), was nowhere to be seen. But every city and country, a few individuals excepted, was plunged in all manner of wickedness.
"Has the case been altered since The Reformation? Does the 'mystery of iniquity' no longer work in the church? . . . Let any one survey the state of Christianity in the reformed parts of Switzerland; in Germany, or France; in Sweden, Denmark, Holland; in Great Britain and Ireland.
"How little are any of these reformed Christians better than heathen nations! Have they more (I will not say, communion with God, although there is no Christianity without it), but have they more justice, mercy, or truth, than the inhabitants of China or Indostan? Oh no! we must acknowledge with sorrow and shame, that we are far beneath them.
"From the preceding considerations we may learn the full answer to one of the grand objections of infidels against Christianity: namely, The lives of Christians.
"Of Christians, do you say? I doubt whether you ever knew a Christian in your life. When Tomo Chachi, the Indian chief, keenly replied to those who spoke to him of being a Christian, 'Why there are Christians at Savannah! There are Christians at Frederica,' the proper answer was, 'No, they are not. They are no more Christians than you and Sinauky.'
"But are not these Christians in Canterbury, in London, in Westminster? No, no more than they are angels. None are Christians but they that have the mind which was in Christ, and walk as He walked.
"'Why, if these only are Christians,' said an eminent wit, 'I never saw a Christian yet.' I believe it: you never did; and, perhaps, you never will; for you will never find them in the grand or the gay world. The few Christians that are upon the earth, are only to be found where you never look for them.
"Never, therefore, urge this objection more. Never object to Christianity the lives or tempers of heathens. Though they are called Christians, the name does not imply the thing: they are as far from this as hell from heaven."-- Id., lxvi.
Like all the other Reformers, Whitefield and the Wesleys never thought of forming any new sect or denomination; but only to preach the Gospel, to bring men to Christ to receive the Holy Spirit, and to live in righteousness unto holiness.
Wesley declared "the first principle of Methodism" to be "wholly and solely to preach the Gospel." "Ye are a new phenomenon in the earth--a body of people who, being of no sect or party, are friends to all parties, and endeavor to forward all in heart-religion, in the knowledge and love of God and man."--Sermon cxxxix.
In that marvelous awakening God in Christ by the Holy Spirit took again His own place in His own Church as in the world. The manifestations of the personal presence of God through the Spirit were constantly such as had never been surpassed since the times of the book of Acts.
The movement was utterly beyond men. It was beyond even the men by whom God most wonderfully wrought. All that they could do was to follow.
And sad to relate, even the Wesleys were most slow to follow. And deplorable to contemplate, they did not fully follow. With God working before their eyes and all around them in such a marvelous way as had never been transcended since the original Pentecostal days, even John Wesley called a meeting of preachers in London for them to give him "their advice respecting the best method of carrying on the work of God!"
And that was the beginning of, it opened the way for, that coming in and building up of human machinery and the rule of men that is so fully manifested in that "method of carrying on the work of God" by the Methodist denomination of today; and which, exactly in the measure of its growth, marks the loss of that power from on high which made and was the original movement called "Methodist."
There were ten persons, including himself, at that meeting called by Wesley for that purpose. But there was no one to give the simple Christian "advice" that he be content to let the Lord Himself carry on His own work as already from the beginning He had been so grandly doing: that he and they all preach the Gospel, get souls acquainted with God and bound up with Christ in a bundle of the love of God, led and taught by the Holy Spirit whose place it is so to do. Isa. 48:17; John 6:45; 14:26; 1 John 2:27.
Oh! that it could have been so. Oh! that God could have been allowed fully His place in His own work which there He Himself had begun: that only God in Christ by the Holy Spirit should have been allowed to be seen! Then the movement called "Methodist" would have accomplished the wonderful purpose of God in making it so markedly the extension of The Reformation.
Then that movement so grandly begun by God would have been "carried on" by Him, and there would have been seen fulfilled that which, by the prophetic Spirit, was seen in The Reformation at its beginning by the meek and patient Militz, the devout Matthias, and the martyred Huss.
This is what those holy men saw as the meaning of The Reformation: "A renovation of The Church, by which it is to be prepared for the second advent of Christ; and for the divine judgment on the corrupt church."
For, they said, "All Holy Scripture predicts that before the end of the world The Church of Christ shall be reformed, renovated, and more widely extended: that she shall be restored to her pristine dignity; and that still, in her old age, her fruitfulness shall be increased.
"This new illumination of The Church is to prepare it for the last personal appearance of Christ."
That was God's purpose in beginning The Reformation.
That was His purpose in reviving The Reformation a hundred years later.
And that was His purpose in again reviving The Reformation two hundred years after that, in the time of Whitefield and the Wesleys.
This divine illumination and renovation of The Church is to fit her for her glorious Presentation in that day.
Through the Spirit and the Word He is to sanctify and cleanse The Church from every spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she shall be holy and without blemish, reflecting only and in perfection the glorious image of her divine Lord.
Just as the finishing of the Mystery of God in each individual who will be of The Church in that great day, is the perfect and undimmed reflection of Christ Himself only, so also the finishing of the Mystery of God in The Church is the perfect and undimmed reflection of Christ Himself only.
As in the individual there is to be no manifestation of the human self, but only the divine Christ--not man, but God; so in The Church which is composed only of such individuals there is to be no manifestation of the human self--not man, but only God.
There is to be no manifestation of either the machinery or the rule of men; but only the exclusive rule of God through the pure reign of the Holy Spirit. "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord of hosts." Zech. 4:6; 1 Cor. 15:24.
Then in another hundred years God again made manifest His way: This time in the proclamation of the soon coming of the Lord in glory.
In this great movement His working was no less remarkable, and it was much more widely extended, than in the Methodist or any other of the former periods of The Reformation.
Within fifteen years the message of God was sounded literally throughout the whole world: "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." Rev. 14:6, 7. In connection with that movement there were mistakes made, as with every other; but the movement itself was no mistake. It put into the world and before the minds of men, nevermore to be forgotten nor obscured, the divine truth of the Christian's "blessed hope"--"the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:13.
While William Miller was the leading preacher of this message in America, he was only one of five hundred who were doing the same thing in this land, and of fifteen hundred who were doing the same in all parts of the world.
Later, William Miller saw that the message of the soon coming of the Lord and the hour of God's judgment which he and others had preached, was not the final message; but that there was to follow it, the proclamation of the message of "the third angel" of Revelation 14.
This message of "the third angel:" is also to be proclaimed "with a loud voice" and just as widely as the first, saying, "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation . . . . Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep The Commandments of God and The Faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:9-12.
These two loud-voiced messages blend. They proclaim the soon coming of the Lord in glory and the hour of God's judgment. They warn all men against the crowning evil that sinks the world, and call all people to the "worship of Him who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters," in the "keeping of The Commandments of God and The Faith of Jesus."
This is the culmination of The Reformation, as it is the culmination of the everlasting Gospel. For the next thing is the coming of the Lord on the "white cloud," with the "sharp sickle" in His hand to reap "the harvest of the earth" which is "the end of the world." Rev. 14:14-16; Matt. 13:39.
This is exactly what the first Reformers preached as the one great aim of The Reformation. p. 193, Para. 8, [LESSREF]. That was the one great thing in view when The Reformation began; and when in the progress of The Reformation that is reached, with that and in that The Reformation will be finished.
Thus the finishing of The Reformation is also the time of the finishing of the Mystery of God. For The Reformation was put into the world expressly to show the way of deliverance from the mystery of iniquity, and to prepare the way for the finishing of the Mystery of God.
But sadder yet to relate and most deplorable of all to contemplate, those who were called out by the Lord through these glorious messages went the way of all before. They refused to God the place that belongs to Him in His own "house," in His own "family," and in His own work; and, as all before, set themselves up in separate "bodies" and exclusive "denominations" under the machinery and rule of men.
And this as always before, in defiance of every principle and every manifestation of The Reformation and of Christianity at the first, and against the plain word of those who preached The Reformation and Christian truth to which they owe their very existence and distinction as "Adventists"--believers in the imminent advent of our glorious Lord!
One "body" of these stands as "the Advent Christian Church"; the other "body" as "the Seventh-Day Adventist Church." Both of these recognize and advertise William Miller and the great Advent movement as the beginning of their existence as Adventists.
And yet William Miller consistently held and plainly set down In writing the unquestionable Reformation and Christian principle and practice that repudiates denominationalism and the rule of men in The Church.
William Miller said: "I should oppose our being called, in an associated capacity, a church with any name. [1]
"To call any denomination the Advent Church, the Church of God, or any other name, I regard as contrary to the usage of the apostles.
"All true churches are 'churches of God,' 1 Thess. 2:14; 'churches of Christ,' Rom. 16:16; 'churches of the saints,' 1 Cor. 14:33. They are thus called in the Scriptures; but they are not thus called as distinctive appellations; neither have we the right to choose either of those as a specific term.
"And if we wished to select either of those terms, by which to be designated, which should we select? The Winnebrenarians of Pennsylvania call themselves 'The Church of God,' as a denominational term. If we were also to be known as such, we should be confounded with them.
"But we have no right to take a name that belongs generally to the whole family, and apply it exclusively to a branch of the family. If a branch of the family wish for a distinctive appellation, they must apply to themselves a term significant of what they are. But I contend that no name should be applied to the churches as such.
"A church, according to the Scriptures, is a religious assembly, selected and called out of the world, by the doctrine of the Gospel, to worship the true God according to His Word.
"The Church must include all the elect of God, of what nation soever, from the beginning to the end of the world, who make but one body, whereof Jesus Christ is the Head. Col. 1:18. "'The church' in any certain place must include all the faithful who are wont to assemble in such place for worship.
"We thus have in the Scriptures not only 'churches of God,' 'churches of Christ,' 'churches of the saints'; but we have 'the church at Jerusalem,' Acts 8:1; 'the church which is in Nymphas's house,' Col. 4:15; 'the church that is at Babylon,' 1 Pet. 5:13; 'the church in the wilderness,' Acts 7:38; 'the church at Antioch,' Acts 13:1; 'the church of Laodicea,' Col. 4:16; 'the church of Ephesus,' Rev. 2:1; 'the church that is in their house,' 'churches of Galatia,' 'of Asia,' 1 Cor. 16:1, 19; 'churches of Judea,' Gal. 1:22; 'churches of the Gentiles,' Rom. 16:4; &c., &c.
"The above are sufficient, to my mind, to establish the position that a church should be simply called a 'church,' so described that its characteristics may be understood. You, therefore, in Boston, have considered yourselves as 'the church at the Tabernacle.'
"Is it asked, Do you repudiate the name of 'Adventists?' In reply, I do, when it is applied to the church; but not when it is applied to those who compose the church.
"Words are the symbols of ideas. All bodies have their peculiarities and characteristics. It is therefore, necessary to distinguish them as such.
"Thus God has divided mankind into peoples, kindred, tribes, nations, and tongues. Those of the same peculiarities have an affinity for each other, and naturally associate together. All these branches of the race are known by their distinctive names, and all acknowledge the convenience of their being thus known. It enables us to designate those we wish by an intelligible term.
"Thus the Israelites of old were known as belonging to the tribes of Judah, of Joseph, of Dan, &c., as the case might be. To call men sons of Jacob was sufficient to show that they belonged to the nation; but even then it was found necessary to know their tribe, their family, and their household. And even the different members of the same household must have different names to distinguish one from the other.
"While all Christians in the days of the apostles were known as Christians, yet if they had had no other distinctive appellations there would have been as much confusion as there would be in a city, if all its inhabitants were known by the names of John and Mary or as there would be in a family, if there should be twelve children with no individual names,--call one and all would run; or as it is at the present time, none would regard the call. They would not know which was meant.
"Therefore, we find the apostles writing, now to the Hebrews, then to the Romans, and again to the Ephesians, and Galatians, &c., &c. If, therefore, it was right for Paul to speak of 'the churches of the Gentiles,' it may not be so very wrong for us to speak of the churches of the Adventists, or the churches of the Congregationalists, &c.; while at the same time, it would be unscriptural to call an association of churches the Advent church, the Methodist church, &c., &c."--Bliss's "Memoirs of William Miller," pp. 315-317.
"Sectarianism is always produced by some private opinion of man, rather than by the plain declaration of God's Word. For years after I began to proclaim this blessed truth of Christ at the door, I never, if possible, to avoid it, even alluded to sectarian principles. And the first objection my Baptist brethren brought against me was that I mixed with, and preached unto, all denominations; even to Unitarians, &c.
"But we have recently, my brethren, been guilty of raising up a sect of our own. The very things which our fathers did when they became sects, we have been doing. We have, like them, cried Babylon! Babylon! Babylon! Against all but Adventists."--Pp. 282-3.
"O, how much injury is done in church discipline! The hypocrite uses it as a tool to make others think he is very pious. The envious use it as a weapon to bring down those they imagine are getting above them. The bigot uses it to bring others to his faith; and the sectarian to bring others to his creed, &c."--P. 107.
"You must preach Bible. You must prove all things by Bible. You must talk Bible. You must exhort Bible. You must pray Bible, and love Bible; and do all in your power to make others love Bible too."--P. 101.
Christianity is not national. It is not denominational. It is universal: as is its divine Author.
Christianity, sought to be made national, is robbed and spoiled of its native character.
Christianity, sought to be made denominational, is equally robbed and spoiled of its native character.
The Lord Jesus did not come to this world to establish denominations nor a denomination. He came to establish the divine life in individual believing souls: "to bring us to God" that God may be "manifest in the flesh" as in Him the divine example and Way.
Christianity kept forever individual is perfectly and permanently universal: as it was in its beginning in the world, as it was in its revival in The Reformation, as it has been in each step in the progress of The Reformation, and as it will be in its finishing in the world.
Denominationalism is not of Christ, nor is it of The Reformation. It is essentially of that Nicolaitanism which the Lord Jesus hates.
It not only enables, but persuades, and even actually induces, people to take the Christian name and profess to be Christians, and to be deceived into thinking that they are Christians, when, as Wesley said, they are no more Christians than they are angels, and no nearer to real Christianity than hell is to heaven: and thus it promotes the kingdom of Antichrist more than the kingdom of Christ.
To sanction this confusion the Scripture is perverted. Then to escape the worse confusion the same Scripture is mangled. Against the plain word of Jesus who said, "The field is the world," the field is made to be "the church of Christ in the world." This of course sanctions that "the children of the wicked one" shall be in the church!
Then, instead of being consistent under their own perversion and letting "both grow together" in the church "until the harvest" as the Lord commands, the word of Christ is again defied and by the exercise of human "church-discipline" they go about to "root up the tares" and "cast them out of the church" which by their own perversion has been made "the field." Matt. 13:28-30, 37- 39.
The whole perverse tangle is only a continuation of the papal confusion, and it can not do anything else than promote the kingdom of Antichrist more than the kingdom of Christ.
Denominationalism has opposed every step of the advancing truth of God in the progress of The Reformation; and it will continue so to do unto the very hour of Christ's glorious appearing.
The full papacy is only the sum of denominationalism.
And whether standing as a single denomination, or as summed up in the federation of denominations in the Federal Council, or in the full papacy itself, the thing is ever the same as far as it goes.
In the form of the full papacy or of the Federal Council of denominations, the thing has more power and can do more; but to the extent of its power the single denomination is the same as is the sum of them.
The Federal Council as the federation of denominations that it is, is only the logical consequence of the federation of congregations in the respective denominations.
The "organized" denomination is as certainly a federation of congregations, as the Federal Council is a federation of denominations.
This truth has been so clearly worked out before the eyes of all in the story of the Baptist churches and the Federal Council, that this alone is sufficient to justify the writings of the geometrical "Q. E. D." under the proposition just now under consideration.
It is well known that throughout their history, the church-order of the Baptists has been that of the New Testament churches. Each congregation stood alone under Christ, with no ecclesiastical organization between the congregation and Him.
When, in 1905, the conference was called to meet in New York City to consider the federation of the denominations, some of the Baptist churches sent representatives.
When there was read in that conference the list of denominations that were represented there, the Baptists were read in as "The Baptist Church of the United States." This then misnomer was immediately corrected from the floor, in the statement, "There is no such thing as 'the Baptist Church of the United States'; but only 'the Baptist churches of the United States'."
But by many influential members of the Baptist churches it was considered that only as the Baptist churches, their place in the Federation of denominations would be of uncertain value as compared with what it could be if they were themselves an effective denomination.
Therefore, in the Monday meeting of the Baptist ministers of Boston and vicinity, against all opposition of Christian and Baptist principles, there was adopted in April, 1907, the "Revised Report of Committee of Five" recommending a "federation" and "strong confederation" of the Baptist churches, in order "to attain the highest denominational effectiveness."
That same year, at the "anniversaries" of the Baptists held in Washington City in May there was adopted a provisional "organization" of the "Northern Baptist Convention," which should be acted upon finally at the anniversaries to be held in May, 1908.
It will not be out of place to give a glimpse of the spirit that ruled in that meeting of the Baptists in Washington City, May, 1907, where that "strong confederation" of the Baptist churches established the "organized" Baptist denomination or church.
In a perfectly friendly and sympathetic report of the proceedings, published in "The Watchman, a Baptist journal" of Boston, Mass. , May 23, 1907, it was said:--
"It was the stormiest, noisiest, and most disorderly meeting probably which the Baptists of the North ever held. But the denominational consciousness asserted itself in having its way. . . .
"Professor Shailer Matthews spoke on the functions of the new society. He said in substance: . . . The power of public opinion in the Baptist church is mighty, and woe to the man who opposes it. We don't want a pope; we are all popes."
And in an editorial The Watchman of the same date says:--
"The minds of the people were made up in advance. There was no discussion in a proper sense. As well try to stop a cyclone.
"At times the audience raged like a wild beast in a pen, with wild, inarticulate cries, when some obstacle arose which seemed to bar their way. For five or ten minutes they would be utterly beyond control."
It should be remarked that where all are popes to begin with, it is only a question of time when there will certainly be a pope of all.
And in a strong pen or cage is the only fit place for a wild beast. And when he rages there it is infinitely better to let him exhaust his fury in impotent plunges against the strong bars of the cage than to relieve his rage by letting him loose among innocent and defenseless people.
In 1908 the Baptist "anniversaries" were held at Oklahoma City. That provisional "organization" was made permanent, with, then, Governor Hughes of New York as president.
Later, Prof. Shailer Matthews of Chicago University was president of it. And at the Chicago meeting of the national federation of denominations Dec. 4-9, 1912, Professor Matthews was elected president of the Federal Council of the denominations for the quadrennial term 1912-1916.
And interesting to relate, one of the very first things that the Federal Council did under the administration of President Matthews was that repudiation of the word "Protestant"; and President Matthews was in the chair when it was done.
This little piece of history certainly demonstrates that the federation of congregations in a denomination, is identical in character with the federation of denominations in the Federal Council, or in the full papacy.
And that the Federal Council is identical in character with the full papacy, is just as certain; and is as easily demonstrated.
When the Federal Council of Churches was formed at the conference in New York City, 1905, the necessity for a national federation and the purpose of it when secured, was indicated in the following forcible words of one of the principal speakers:--
"It is our province, in the name of our supreme King and seeking the good of mankind to ask rulers to respect the code of our kingdom. Rulers may ignore sects, but they will respect the church. This Federation will compel an audience, and it will speak with power, if it will put aside its differences and make its agreement its argument."
How this respect of rulers for "the church" is to be compelled by the Federal Council is made plain in the plan and operation of its practical workings: in, that county federation of local federations was found to be "essential in order to bring pressure to bear upon the county officials for the suppression of the evils aimed at" by the church:
that State federation was found to be essential in order "to bring to bear the pressure of the united influence of the churches of the State," upon State officials:
and national federation was now essential in order to bring to bear this pressure of the united influence of the churches of the nation, upon the national officials.
And it was declared by the whole conference in its "Plan of Federation" that these practical workings of the Federation are to be made applicable "in every relation of life!"
Plainly, therefore, the Federal Council of the churches was formed directly to the intent that by it the ecclesiastical will, through the "pressure" of "the combined influence" of the denominations, shall control the civil power "in every relation of life."
It was publicly declared that, on a number of public questions that are civil only, as well as on questions that are religious or ecclesiastical only, and on these different classes of questions indiscriminately mixed, "the voice of the churches should be heard," and that the "united and concerted action" of the church "is to lead effectively."
That is specifically one of the principal things that the Federal Council was created to do. But such declarations, such purpose, and such procedure, are directly the opposite of original and fundamental Protestant and Reformation principle.
The next year after the Protest, there was assembled the Diet of Augsburg. The Emperor Charles V was present. He asked The Protestants to submit "a moderate and concise exposition" of what they must stand for, in order that if possible an accommodation might be arrived at."
In response, June 25, 1530, The Protestants presented by a public reading what has ever since stood as the Augsburg Confession. It is the complement of The Protest in the making of The Reformation.
Article XXVIII of that Confession says--
"The ecclesiastical power bestows things eternal, and is exercised only by the ministry of the Word.
"The civil administration is occupied about other things than is the Gospel.
"The ecclesiastical and civil power are not to be confounded.
"The ecclesiastical has its own command to preach the Gospel and to administer the sacraments.
"Let it not by force enter into the office of another.
"Let it not transfer worldly kingdoms.
"Let it not prescribe laws to the magistrate touching the form of the State.
"As Christ says, 'My kingdom is not of this world.'
John 18:36. Again, 'Who made Me a judge or a divider over you?' Luke 12:14."
When the professed Protestant churches have entered into city, county, State, and National federation in order effectually to bring "pressure to bear" upon public civil officials for the execution of the will of the combined church, this is nothing else than for the ecclesiastical power to "enter by force into the office of another."
And that is not Protestant, but papal.
When the Federation, wielding the "combined influence" of the churches, or when any professed Protestant church, by votes in an election transfers the government--whether city, county, State or National--from one party to another, or from one person to another, it does in principle and in effect "transfer worldly kingdoms."
And that is not Protestant, but papal.
When the Federation of churches frames bills, presents them to the legislative power, and swings the "combined influence" of the churches in lobbying and "pressure" to cause the will of the church to be enacted into law, it does in principle, in effect, and in fact, "prescribe laws to the magistrate."
And that is not Protestant, but papal.
All these things the Federation has done, is doing, and was created to do. In all these things the ecclesiastical and the civil powers are "confounded."
And that is not Protestant, but papal.
In every professed Protestant denomination, ecclesiastical power is exercised otherwise than "only by the ministry of the Word." And that is not Protestant, but papal.
Thus all denomination and federation and confederation is all one, and is all equally anti-Protestant, anti- Reformation, anti-Christian.
It is all of that spirit of combine and human contrivance that is so emphatically set at nought by the Word of God.
"Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
"Give ear, all ye of far countries:
"Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
"Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought.
"Speak the word, and it shall not stand." Isa. 8:9, 10.
Accordingly William Miller said: "I believe that before Christ comes in his glory, all sectarian principles will be shaken and the votaries of the several sects scattered to the four winds; and that none shall be able to stand but those who are built on the Word of God." Heb. 12:26, 27.
Also the ringing words of the Protest: "This Word is the only truth; it is the sure rule of all doctrine, and of all life; and can never fail or deceive us. He who builds on this foundation shall stand against all the powers of hell, whilst all the human vanities that are set up against it shall fall before the face of God.
"The Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand"--He brought down his hand hard, for emphasis--"and instructed me, saying,--
"Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, "A confederacy;
"Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
"Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself.
"And let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread.
"And He shall be for a sanctuary." Isa. 8:11-13.
The only way in which I can sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself, is to sanctify Him myself.
And this is Individuality.
Individuality, always be it remembered: never individualism. For it is eternally an ity: never an ism.
Individuality is Christianity, and Christianity is Individuality.
This is The Reformation.
And The Reformation instead of the papacy, means Individuality and Salvation instead of the combine of denomination, federation, confederation, domination, and annihilation.
It was precisely through the combine of denomination, federation, and confederation, that in the fourth century was established the full-fledged papacy, which is never anything else than domination; and which, with its new federation likeness, ends only in annihilation. Rev. 17:8, 11, 15, 16; 18:21; 19:20.
Note:
1. The italics are his own, throughout.