FROM the series of events which have taken place in the churches for
many years past, especially in this Western country, as well as from what we
know in general of the present state of things in the Christian world, we are
persuaded that it is high time for us not only to think, but also to act, for
ourselves; to see with our own eyes, and to take all our measures directly and
immediately from the Divine standard; to this alone we feel ourselves
Divinely bound to be conformed, as by this alone, we must be judged. We are
also persuaded that as no man can be judged for his brother, so no man can
judge for his brother; every man must be allowed to judge for himself, as
every man must bear his own judgment--must give account of himself to God.
We are also of opinion that as the Divine word is equally binding upon all, so
all lie under an equal obligation to be bound by it, and it alone; and not by any
human interpretation of it; and that, therefore, no man has a right to judge his
brother, except in so far as he manifestly violates the express letter of the law.
That every such judgment is an express violation of the law of Christ, a daring
usurpation of his throne, and a gross intrusion upon the rights and liberties of
his subjects. We are, therefore, of opinion that we should beware of such
things; that we should keep at the utmost distance from everything of this
nature; and that, knowing the judgment of God against them that commit such
things, we should neither do the same ourselves, nor take pleasure in them
that do them. Moreover, being well aware, as from sad experience, of the
heinous nature and pernicious tendency of religious controversy among
Christians; tired and sick of the bitter jarrings and janglings of a party spirit,
we would desire to be at rest; and, were it possible, we would also desire to
adopt and recommend such measures as would give rest to our brethren
throughout all the churches: as would restore unity, peace, and purity to the
whole Church of God. This desirable rest, however, we utterly despair either
to find for ourselves, or to be able to recommend to our brethren, by
continuing amid the diversity and rancor of party contentions, the veering
uncertainty and clashings of human opinions: nor, indeed, can we reasonably
expect to find it anywhere but in Christ and his simple word, which is the
same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and
our brethren would be, that, rejecting human opinions and the inventions of
men as of any authority, or as having any place in the Church of God, we
might forever cease from further contentions about such things; returning to
and holding fast by the original standard; taking the Divine word alone for our
rule; the Holy Spirit for our teacher and guide, to lead us into all truth; and
Christ alone, as exhibited in the word, for our salvation; that, by so doing, we
may be at peace among ourselves, follow peace with all men, and holiness,
without which no man shall see the Lord. Impressed with these sentiments, we
have resolved as follows:
I. That we form ourselves into a religious association under the
denomination of the Christian Association of Washington, for the sole
purpose of promoting simple evangelical Christianity, free from all mixture of
human opinions and inventions of men.
II. That each member, according to ability, cheerfully and liberally
subscribe a certain specified sum, to be paid half yearly, for the purpose of
raising a fund to support a pure Gospel ministry, that shall reduce to practice
that whole form of doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, expressly
revealed and enjoined in the word of God. And, also, for supplying the poor
with the holy Scriptures.
III. That this Society consider it a duty, and shall use all proper means in
its power, to encourage the formation of similar associations; and shall for this
purpose hold itself in readiness, upon application, to correspond with, and
render all possible assistance to, such as may desire to associate for the same
desirable and important purposes.
IV. That this Society by no means considers itself a Church, nor does at
all assume to itself the powers peculiar to such a society; nor do the members,
as such, consider themselves as standing connected in that relation; nor as at
all associated for the peculiar purposes of Church association; but merely as
voluntary advocates for Church reformation; and, as possessing the powers
common to all individuals, who may please to associate in a peaceable and
orderly manner, for any lawful purpose, namely, the disposal of their time,
counsel and property, as they may see cause.
V. That this Society, formed for the sole purpose of promoting simple
evangelical Christianity, shall, to the utmost of its power, countenance and
support such ministers, and such only, as exhibit a manifest conformity to the
original standard in conversation and doctrine, in zeal and diligence; only such
as reduce to practice that simple original form of Christianity, expressly
exhibited upon the sacred page; without at tempting to inculcate anything of
human authority, of private opinion, or inventions of men, as having anyplace
in the constitution, faith, or worship, of the Christian Church, or anything as
matter of Christian faith or duty, for which there can not be expressly produce
a "Thus saith the Lord, either in express terms, or by approved precedent."
VI. That a Standing Committee of twenty-one members of
unexceptionable moral character, inclusive of the secretary and treasurer, be
chosen annually to superintend the interests, and transact the business of the
Society. And that said Committee be invested with full powers to act and do,
in the name, and behalf of their constituents, whatever the Society had
previously determined, for the purpose of carrying into effect the entire object
of its institution, and that in case of any emergency, unprovided for in the
existing determinations of the Society, said Committee be empowered to call a
special meeting for that purpose.
VII. That this Society meet at least twice a year, viz.: on the first
Thursday of May, and of November, and that the collectors appointed to
receive the half-yearly quotas of the promised subscriptions, be in readiness, at
or before each meeting, to make their returns to the treasurer, that he may be
able to report upon the state of the funds. The next meeting to be held at
Washington on the first Thursday of November next.
VIII. That each meeting of the Society be opened with a sermon, the
constitution and address read, and a collection lifted for the benefit of the
Society; and that all communications of a public nature be laid before the
Society at its half-yearly meetings.
IX. That this Society, relying upon the all-sufficiency of the Church's
Head; and, through his grace, looking with an eye of confidence to the
generous liberality of the sincere friends of genuine Christianity; holds itself
engaged to afford a competent support to such ministers as the Lord may
graciously dispose to assist, at the request, and by invitation of the Society, in
promoting a pure evangelical reformation, by the simple preaching of the
everlasting Gospel, and the administration of its ordinances in an exact
conformity to the Divine standard as aforesaid; and that, therefore, what ever
the friends of the institution shall please to con tribute toward the support of
ministers in connection with this Society, who may be sent forth to preach
at considerable distances, the same shall be gratefully received and
acknowledged as a donation to its funds.

ADDRESS, ETC.

To all that love our Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity, throughout all the
Churches, the following Address is most respectfully submitted.

DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN:

That it is the grand design and native tendency of our holy religion to
reconcile and unite men to God, and to each other, in truth and love, to the
glory of God, and their own present and eternal good, will not, we presume,
be denied, by any of the genuine subjects of Christianity. The nativity of its
Divine author was announced from heaven, by a host of angels, with high
acclamations of "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and
good-will toward men." The whole tenor of that Divine book which contains
its institutes, in all its gracious declarations, precepts, ordinances, and holy
examples, most expressively and powerfully inculcates this. In so far, then, as
this holy unity and unanimity in faith and love is attained, just in the
same degree is the glory of God and the happiness of men promoted and
secured. Impressed with those sentiments, and, at the same time, grievously
affected with those sad divisions which have so awfully interfered with the
benign and gracious intention of our holy religion, by exciting its professed
subjects to bite and devour one another, we cannot suppose ourselves
justifiable in withholding the mite of our sincere and humble endeavors to
heal and remove them.
What awful and distressing effects have those sad divisions produced!
what aversions, what reproaches, what backbitings, what evil surmisings,
what angry contentions, what enmities, what excommunications, and even
persecution! ! ! And, indeed, this must, in some measure, continue to be the
case so long as those schisms exist; for, saith the apostle, where envying and
strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. What dreary effects of those
accursed divisions are to be seen, even in this highly favored country, where
the sword of the civil magistrate has not as yet learned to serve at the altar.
Have we not seen congregations broken to pieces, neighborhoods of
professing Christians first thrown into confusion by party contentions, and, in
the end, entirely deprived of Gospel ordinances; while, in the mean time, large
settlements and tracts of country remain to this day entirely destitute of a
Gospel ministry, many of them in little better than a state of heathenism, the
Churches being either so weakened with divisions that they cannot send
them ministers, or the people so divided among themselves that they will not
receive them. Several, at the same time, who live at the door of a preached
Gospel, dare not in conscience go to hear it, and, of course, enjoy little more
advantage, in that respect, than if living in the midst of heathens. How seldom
do many in those circumstances enjoy the dispensations of the Lord's Supper,
that great ordinance of unity and love. How sadly, also, does this broken and
confused state of things interfere with that spiritual intercourse among
Christians, one with another, which is so essential to their edification and
comfort, in the midst of a present evil world; so divided in sentiment, and, of
course, living at such distances, that but few of the same opinion, or party, can
conveniently and frequently assemble for religious purposes, or enjoy a due
frequency of ministerial attentions. And even where things are in a better state
with respect to settled Churches, how is the tone of discipline relaxed under
the influence of a party spirit; many being afraid to exercise it with due
strictness, lest their people should leave them, and, under the cloak of some
specious pretense, find refuge in the bosom of another party; while lamentable
to be told, so corrupted is the Church with those accursed divisions, that there
are but few so base as not to find admission into some professing party or
other. Thus, in a great measure, is that Scriptural purity of communion
banished from the Church of God, upon the due preservation of which much
of her comfort, glory, and usefulness depend. To complete the dread result of
our woeful divisions, one evil yet remains, of a very awful nature: the Divine
displeasure justly provoked with this sad perversion of the Gospel of peace,
the Lord withholds his gracious influential presence from his ordinances, and
not unfrequently gives up the contentious authors and abettors of religious
discord to fall into grievous scandals, or visits them with judgments, as he did
the house of Eli. Thus, while professing Christians bite and devour one
another, they are consumed one of another, or fall a prey to the righteous
judgments of God; meantime, the truly religious of all parties are grieved, the
weak stumbled, the graceless and profane hardened, the mouths of infidels
opened to blaspheme religion, and thus the only thing under heaven
divinely efficacious to promote and secure the present spiritual and eternal
good of man, even the Gospel of the blessed Jesus, is reduced to contempt,
while multitudes, deprived of a Gospel ministry, as has been observed, fall an
easy prey to seducers, and so become the dupes of almost unheard of
delusions. Are not such the visible effects of our sad divisions, even in this
otherwise happy country. Say, dear brethren, are not these things so? Is it not
then your incumbent duty to endeavor, by all Scriptural means, to have those
evils remedied. Who will say that it is not? And does it not peculiarly belong
to you, who occupy the place of Gospel ministers, to be leaders in this
laudable undertaking? Much depends upon your hearty concurrence and
zealous endeavors. The favorable opportunity which Divine Providence has
put into your hands, in this happy country, for the accomplishment of so great
a good, is, in itself, a consideration of no small encouragement. A country
happily exempted from the baneful influence of a civil establishment of any
peculiar form of Christianity; from under the direct influence of the
antichristian hierarchy; and, at the same time, from any formal connection
with the devoted nations that have given their strength and power unto the
beast; in which, of course, no adequate reformation can be accomplished, until
the word of God be fulfilled, and the vials of his wrath poured out upon them.
Happy exemption, indeed, from being the object of such awful
judgments. Still more happy will it be for us if we duly esteem and improve
those great advantages, for the high and valuable ends for which they are
manifestly given, and sure where much is given, much also will be required.
Can the Lord expect, or require, anything less from a people in such
unhampered circumstances--from a people so liberally furnished with all
means and mercies, than a thorough reformation in all things, civil and
religious, according to his word? Why should we suppose it? And would not
such an improvement of our precious privileges be equally conducive to the
glory of God, and our own present and everlasting good? The auspicious
phenomena of the times furnish collateral arguments of a very encouraging
nature, that our dutiful and pious endeavors shall not be in vain in the Lord. Is
it not the day of the Lord's vengeance upon the anti-christian world--the year
of recompenses for the controversy of Zion? Surely, then, the time to favor her
is come; even the set time. And is it not said that Zion shall be built in
troublous times? Have not greater efforts been made, and more done, for the
promulgation of the Gospel among the nations, since the commencement of
the French revolution, than had been for many centuries prior to that event?
And have not the Churches, both in Europe and America, since that period,
discovered a more than usual concern for the removal of contentions, for the
healing of divisions, for the restoration of a Christian and brotherly
intercourse one with another, and for the promotion of each other's spiritual
good, as the printed documents upon those subjects amply testify? Should we
not, then, be excited by these considerations to concur with all our might,
to help forward this good work; that what yet remains to be done, may be fully
accomplished. And what though the well-meant endeavors after union have
not, in some instances, entirely succeeded to the wish of all parties, should this
dissuade us from the attempt ! Indeed, should Christians cease to contend
earnestly for the sacred articles of faith and duty once delivered to the saints,
on account of the opposition and scanty success which, in many instances,
attend their faithful and honest endeavors; the Divine cause of truth and
righteousness might have long ago been relinquished. And is there anything
more formidable in the Goliah schism, than in many other evils which
Christians have to combat? Or, has the Captain of Salvation sounded a desist
from pursuing, or proclaimed a truce with this deadly enemy that is sheathing
its sword in the very bowels of his Church, rending and mangling his mystical
body into pieces? Has he said to his servants, Let it alone? If not, where is the
warrant for a cessation of endeavors to have it removed? On the other hand
are we not the better instructed by sage experience, how to proceed in this
business, having before our eyes the inadvertencies and mistakes of others,
which have hitherto, in many instances, prevented the desired success? Thus
taught by experience, and happily furnished with the accumulated instructions
of those that have gone before us, earnestly laboring in this good cause, let
us taken unto ourselves the whole armor of God, and, having our feet shod
with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, let us stand fast by this important
duty with all perseverance. Let none that love the peace of Zion be
discouraged, much less offended, because that an object of such magnitude
does not, in the first instance, come forth recommended by the express
suffrage of the mighty or the many. This consideration, if duly weighed, will
neither give offense, nor yield discouragement to any one that considers the
nature of the thing in question in connection with what has been
already suggested. Is it not a matter of universal right, a duty equally
belonging to every citizen of Zion, to seek her good? In this respect, no one
can claim a preference above his fellows, as to any peculiar, much less
exclusive obligation. And, as for authority, it can have no place in this
business; for, surely, none can suppose themselves invested with a Divine
right, as to anything peculiarly belonging to them, to call the attention of their
brethren to this dutiful and important undertaking. For our part, we entertain
no such arrogant presumption; nor are we inclined to impute the thought to
any of our brethren, that this good work should be let alone till such time as
they may think proper to come forward and sanction the attempt, by their
invitation and example. It is an open field, an extensive work, to which all are
equally welcome, equally invited.
Should we speak of competency, viewing the greatness of the object,
and the manifold difficulties which lie in the way of its accomplishment; we
would readily exclaim, with the apostle, Who is sufficient for these things?
But, upon recollecting ourselves, neither would we be discouraged; persuaded
with him, that, as the work in which we are engaged, so, likewise, our
sufficiency is of God. But, after all, both the mighty and the many are with us.
The Lord himself, and all that are truly his people, are declaredly on our side.
The prayers of all the Churches, nay, the prayers of Christ himself (John xvii:
20, 23), and of all that have ascended to his heavenly kingdom, are with us.
The blessing out of Zion is pronounced upon our undertaking. "Pray for the
Peace of Jerusalem; they shall prosper that love thee." With such
encouragements as these, what should deter us from the heavenly enterprise,
or render hopeless the attempt of accomplishing, in due time, an entire union
of all the Churches in faith and practice, according to the word of God? Not
that we judge ourselves competent to effect such a thing; we utterly disclaim
the thought; but we judge it our bounden duty to make the attempt, by using
all due means in our power to promote it; and also, that we have sufficient
reason to rest assured that our humble and well-meant endeavors shall not be
in vain in the Lord.
The cause that we advocate is not our own peculiar cause, nor the cause
of any party, considered as such; it is a common cause, the cause of Christ and
our brethren of all denominations. All that we presume, then, is to do what we
humbly conceive to be our duty, in connection with our brethren; to each of
whom it equally belongs, as to us, to exert himself for this blessed purpose.
And as we have no just reason to doubt the concurrence of our brethren to
accomplish an object so desirable in itself, and fraught with such happy
consequences, so neither can we look forward to that happy event which will
forever put an end to our hapless divisions, and restore to the Church
its primitive unity, purity, and prosperity, but in the pleasing prospect of their
hearty and dutiful concurrence.
Dearly beloved brethren, why should we deem it a thing incredible that
the Church of Christ, in this highly favored country, should resume that
original unity, peace, and purity which belong to its constitution,
and constitute its glory? Or, is there anything that can be justly deemed
necessary for this desirable purpose, both to conform to the model and adopt
the practice of the primitive Church, expressly exhibited in the New
Testament? Whatever alterations this might produce in any or in all of the
Churches, should, we think, neither be deemed inadmissible nor ineligible.
Surely such alteration would be every way for the better, and not for the
worse, unless we should suppose the divinely inspired rule to be faulty, or
defective. Were we, then, in our Church constitution and managements, to
exhibit a complete conformity to the apostolic Church, would we not be, in
that respect, as perfect as Christ intended we should be? And should not this
suffice us?
It is, to us, a pleasing consideration that all the Churches of Christ
which mutually acknowledge each other as such, are not only agreed in the
great doctrines of faith and holiness, but are also materially agreed as to the
positive ordinances of the Gospel institution; so that our differences, at most,
are about the things in which the kingdom of God does not consist, that is,
about matters of private opinion or human invention. What a pity that the
kingdom of God should be divided about such things! Who, then, would
not be the first among us to give up human inventions in the worship of God,
and to cease from imposing his private opinions upon his brethren, that our
breaches might thus be healed? Who would not willingly conform to the
original pattern laid down in the New Testament, for this happy purpose? Our
dear brethren of all denominations will please to consider that we have our
educational prejudices and particular customs to struggle against as well as
they. But this we do sincerely declare, that there is nothing we have
hitherto received as matter of faith or practice which is not expressly taught
and enjoined in the word of God, either in express terms or approved
precedent, that we would not heartily relinquish, that so we might return to
the original constitutional unity of the Christian Church; and, in this happy
unity, enjoy full communion with all our brethren, in peace and charity. The
like dutiful condescension we candidly expect of all that are seriously
impressed with a sense of the duty they owe to God, to each other, and to their
perishing brethren of mankind. To this we call, we invite, our brethren of all
denominations, by all the sacred motives which we have avouched as the
impulsive reasons of our thus addressing them.
You are all, dear brethren, equally included as the objects of our love
and esteem. With you all we desire to unite in the bonds of an entire Christian
unity--Christ alone being the head, the center, his word the rule; an explicit
belief of, and manifest conformity to it, in all things--the terms. More than
this, you will not require of us; and less we cannot require of you; nor, indeed,
can we reasonably suppose any would desire it, for what good purpose would
it serve? We dare neither assume nor propose the trite indefinite distinction
between essentials and non-essentials, in matters of revealed truth and duty;
firmly persuaded, that, whatever may be their comparative importance,
simply considered, the high obligation of the Divine authority revealing, or
enjoining them, renders the belief or performance of them absolutely essential
to us, in so far as we know them. And to be ignorant of anything God has
revealed, can neither be our duty nor our privilege. We humbly presume, then,
dear brethren, you can have no relevant objection to meet us upon this
ground. And, we again beseech you, let it be known that it is the invitation of
but few; by your accession we shall be many; and whether few, or many, in
the first instance, it is all one with respect to the event which must ultimately
await the full information and hearty concurrence of all. Besides, whatever is
to be done, must begin, some time, some where; and no matter where, nor by
whom, if the Lord puts his hand to the work, it must surely prosper. And has
he not been graciously pleased, upon many signal occasions, to bring to
pass the greatest events from very small beginnings, and even by means the
most unlikely. Duty then is ours; but events belong to God.
We hope, then, what we urge will neither be deemed an unreasonable
nor an unseasonable undertaking. Why should it be thought unseasonable?
Can any time be assigned, while things continue as they are, that would prove
more favorable for such an attempt, or what could be supposed to make it so?
Might it be the approximation of parties to a greater nearness, in point of
public profession and similarity of customs? Or might it be expected from a
gradual decline of bigotry? As to the former, it is a well-known fact,
that where the difference is least, the opposition is always managed with a
degree of vehemence inversely proportioned to the merits of the cause. With
respect to the latter, though we are happy to say, that in some cases and
places, and, we hope, universally, bigotry is upon the decline; yet we are not
warranted, either by the past or present, to act upon that supposition. We have,
as yet, by this means seen no such effect produced; nor indeed could we
reasonably expect it; for there will always be multitudes of weak persons in
the Church, and these are generally most subject to bigotry; add to this, that
while divisions exist, there will always be found interested men who will not
fail to support them; nor can we at all suppose that Satan will be idle to
improve an advantage so important to the interests of his kingdom. And, let it
be further observed upon the whole, that, in matters of similar importance to
our secular interests, we would by no means content our selves with such kind
of reasoning. We might further add, that the attempt here suggested not being
of a partial, but of general nature, it can have no just tendency to excite the
jealousy, or hurt the feelings of any party. On the contrary, every effort toward
a permanent Scriptural unity among the Churches, upon the solid basis of
universally acknowledged and self-evident truths, must have the happiest
tendency to enlighten and conciliate, by thus manifesting to each other
their mutual charity and zeal for the truth: "Whom I love in the truth," saith
the apostle, "and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; for the
truth's sake, which is in us, and shall be with us forever." Indeed, if no such
Divine and adequate basis of union can be fairly exhibited, as will meet the
approbation of every upright and intelligent Christian, nor such mode of
procedure adopted in favor of the weak as will not oppress their consciences,
then the accomplishment of this grand object upon principle must be forever
impossible. There would, upon this supposition, remain no other way of
accomplishing it, but merely by voluntary compromise, and good-natured
accommodation. That such a thing, however, will be accomplished, one way
or other, will not be questioned by any that allow themselves to believe that
the commands and prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ will not utterly prove
ineffectual. Whatever way, then, it is to be effected, whether upon the solid
basis of Divinely revealed truth, or the good-natured principle of Christian
forbearance and gracious condescension, is it not equally practicable,
equally eligible to us, as ever it can be to any; unless we should suppose
ourselves destitute of that Christian temper and discernment which is
essentially necessary to qualify us to do the will of our gracious Redeemer,
whose express command to his people is, that there be "no divisions among
them; but that they all walk by the same rule, speak the same thing, and be
perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment?" We
believe then it is as practicable as it is eligible. Let us attempt it. "Up, and be
doing, and the Lord will be with us."
Are we not all praying for that happy event, when there shall be but one
fold, as there is but one chief Shepherd? What! shall we pray for a thing, and
not strive to obtain it! ! not use the necessary means to have it accomplished! !
What said the Lord to Moses upon a piece of conduct somewhat similar?
"Why criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go
forward, but lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand." Let the ministers
of Jesus but embrace this exhortation, put their hand to the work, and
encourage the people to go forward upon the firm ground of obvious truth, to
unite in the bonds of an entire Christian unity; and who will venture to say that
it would not soon be accomplished? "Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way,
take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people," saith your God. To
you, therefore, it peculiarly belongs, as the professed and acknowledged
leaders of the people, to go before them in this good work, to remove human
opinions and the inventions of men out of the way, by carefully separating this
chaff from the pure wheat of primary and authentic revelation; casting out the
assumed authority, that enacting and decreeing power by which those things
have been imposed and established. To this ministerial department, then, do
we look with anxiety. Ministers of Jesus, you can neither be ignorant of nor
unaffected with the divisions and corruptions of his Church. His dying
commands, his last and ardent prayers for the visible unity of his professing
people, will not suffer you to be indifferent in this matter. You will not, you
cannot, therefore, be silent upon a subject of such vast importance to his
personal glory and the happiness of his people--consistently you cannot;
for silence gives consent. You will rather lift up your voice like a trumpet to
expose the heinous nature and dreadful consequences of those unnatural and
antichristian divisions, which have so rent and ruined the Church of God.
Thus, in justice to your station and character, honored of the Lord, would we
hopefully anticipate your zealous and faithful efforts to heal the breaches of
Zion; that God's dear children might dwell together in unity and love; but if
otherwise . . . we forbear to utter it. ( See Mal. ii: 1-10.)
O! that ministers and people would but consider that there are no
divisions in the grave, nor in that world which lies beyond it! there our
divisions must come to an end! we must all unite there! Would to God we
could find in our hearts to put an end to our short-lived divisions here; that so
we might leave a blessing behind us; even a happy and united Church. What
gratification, what utility, in the mean time, can our divisions afford either to
ministers or people? Should they be perpetuated till the day of judgment,
would they convert one sinner from the error of his ways, or save a soul from
death? Have they any tendency to hide the multitude of sins that are so
dishonorable to God, and hurtful to his people? Do they not rather irritate and
produce them? How innumerable and highly aggravated are the sins they have
produced, and are at this day producing, both among professors and profane.
We entreat, we beseech you then, dear brethren, by all those considerations, to
concur in this blessed and dutiful attempt. What is the work of all, must be
done by all. Such was the work of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Such is the
work to which you are called, not by the authority of man, but by Jesus Christ,
and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. By this authority are you
called to raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen down among us, and
to set it up upon its own base. This you cannot do, while you run every man to
his own house, and consult only the interests of his own party. Until you
associate, consult, and advise together, and in a friendly and Christian manner
explore the subject, nothing can be done. We would therefore, with all due
deference and submission, call the attention of our brethren to the obvious and
important duty of association. Unite with us in the common cause of simple
evangelical Christianity; in this glorious cause we are ready to unite with you.
United we shall prevail. It is the cause of Christ, and of our brethren
throughout all the Churches, of catholic unity, peace, and purity; a cause that
must finally prosper in spite of all opposition. Let us unite to promote it.
Come forward, then, dear brethren, and help with us. Do not suffer
yourselves to be lulled asleep by that siren song of the slothful and reluctant
professor: "The time is not yet come, the time is not come; saith he; the time
that the Lord's house should be built." Believe him not. Do ye not discern the
signs of the times? Have not the two witnesses arisen from their state of
political death, from under the long proscription of ages? Have they not
stood upon their feet, in the presence, and to the consternation and terror of
their enemies? Has not their resurrection been accompanied with a great
earth quake? Has not the tenth part of the great city been thrown down by it?
Has not this event aroused the nations to indignation? Have they not been
angry, yea, very angry? Therefore, O Lord, is thy wrath come upon them, and
the time of the dead that they should be avenged, and that thou shouldest give
reward to thy servants the prophets, and to them that fear thy name, both small
and great; and that thou shouldest destroy them that have destroyed the earth.
Who among us has not heard the report of these things, of these lightnings and
thunderings and voices; of this tremendous earthquake and great hail; of these
awful convulsions and revolutions that have dashed and are dashing to pieces
the nations, like a potter's vessel? Yea, have not the remote vibrations of this
dreadful shock been felt even by us, whom God has graciously placed at so
great a distance?
What shall we say to these things? Is it time for us to sit still in our
corruptions and divisions, when the Lord, by his word and providence, is so
loudly and expressly calling us to repentance, and reformation? "Awake,
awake; put on thy strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O
Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more come unto thee the
uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust, O Jerusalem;
arise, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion."
Resume that precious, that dear-bought liberty, wherewith Christ has made his
people free; a liberty from subjection to any authority but his own, in matters
of religion. Call no man father, no man master on earth; for one is your
master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Stand fast, therefore, in this
precious liberty, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. For
the vindication of this precious liberty have we declared ourselves hearty and
willing advocates. For this benign and dutiful purpose have we associated,
that by so doing we might contribute the mite of our humble endeavors to
promote it, and thus invite our brethren to do the same. As the first-fruits of
our efforts for this blessed purpose we respectfully present to their
consideration the following propositions, relying upon their charity and candor
that they will neither despise nor misconstrue our humble and adventurous
attempt. If they should in any measure serve, as a preliminary, to open up the
way to a permanent Scriptural unity among the friends and lovers of truth and
peace throughout the Churches, we shall greatly rejoice at it. We by no means
pretend to dictate, and could we propose any thing more evident, consistent,
and adequate, it should be at their service. Their pious and dutiful attention to
an object of such magnitude will induce them to communicate to us their
emendations; and thus what is sown in weakness will be raised up in power.
For certainly the collective graces that are conferred upon the Church, if duly
united and brought to bear upon any point of commanded duty, would be
amply sufficient for the right and successful performance of it. "For to one is
given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by
the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the discerning
of spirits: but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal. As every man, therefore, hath received the gift, even so minister
the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." In
the face, then, of such instructions, and with such assurances of an
all-sufficiency of Divine grace, as the Church has received from her
exalted Head, we can neither justly doubt the concurrence of her genuine
members; nor yet their ability, when dutifully acting together, to accomplish
anything that is necessary for his glory, and their own good; and certainly their
visible unity in truth and holiness, in faith and love, is, of all things, the most
conducive to both these, if we may credit the dying commands and prayers of
our gracious Lord. In a matter, therefore, of such confessed importance, our
Christian brethren, however unhappily distinguished by party names, will not,
cannot, withhold their helping hand. We are as heartily willing to be their
debtors, as they are indispensably bound to be our benefactors. Come,
then, dear brethren, we most humbly beseech you, cause your light to shine
upon our weak beginnings, that we may see to work by it. Evince your zeal for
the glory of Christ, and the spiritual welfare of your fellow-Christians, by your
hearty and zealous co-operation to promote the unity, purity, and prosperity of
his Church.
Let none imagine that the subjoined propositions are at all intended as
an overture toward a new creed or standard for the Church, or as in any wise
designed to be made a term of communion; nothing can be further from our
intention. They are merely designed for opening up the way, that we may
come fairly and firmly to original ground upon clear and certain premises, and
take up things just as the apostles left them; that thus disentangled from the
accruing embarrassments of intervening ages, we may stand with
evidence upon the same ground on which the Church stood at the beginning.
Having said so much to solicit attention and prevent mistake, we submit as
follows:
PROP. I. That the Church of Christ upon earth is essentially,
intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place
that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things
according to the Scriptures, and that manifest the same by their tempers and
conduct, and of none else; as none else can be truly and properly called
Christians.
2. That although the Church of Christ upon earth must necessarily exist
in particular and distinct societies, locally separate one from another, yet there
ought to be no schisms, no uncharitable divisions among them. They ought to
receive each other as Christ Jesus hath also received them, to the glory of
God. And for this purpose they ought all to walk by the same rule, to mind
and speak the same thing; and to be perfectly joined together in the same
mind, and in the same judgment.
3. That in order to do this, nothing ought to be inculcated upon
Christians as articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion,
but what is expressly taught and enjoined upon them in the word of God. Nor
ought anything to be admitted, as of Divine obligation, in their Church
constitution and managements, but what is expressly enjoined by the authority
of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles upon the New Testament Church;
either in express terms or by approved precedent.
4. That although the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are
inseparably connected, making together but one perfect and entire revelation
of the Divine will, for the edification and salvation of the Church,
and therefore in that respect cannot be separated; yet as to what directly and
properly belongs to their immediate object, the New Testament is as perfect a
constitution for the worship, discipline, and government of the
New Testament Church, and as perfect a rule for the particular duties of its
members, as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and
government of the Old Testament Church, and the particular duties of
its members.
5. That with respect to the commands and ordinances of our Lord Jesus
Christ, where the Scriptures are silent as to the express time or manner of
performance, if any such there be, no human authority has power to interfere,
in order to supply the supposed deficiency by making laws for the Church; nor
can any thing more be required of Christians in such cases, but only that they
observe these commands and ordinances as will evidently answer the declared
and obvious end of their institution. Much less has any human authority power
to impose new commands or ordinances upon the Church, which our Lord
Jesus Christ has not enjoined. Nothing ought to be received into the faith or
worship of the Church, or be made a term of communion among Christians,
that is not as old as the New Testament.
6. That although inferences and deductions from Scripture premises,
when fairly inferred, may be truly called the doctrine of God's holy word, yet
are they not formally binding upon the consciences of Christians farther than
they perceive the connection, and evidently see that they are so; for their faith
must not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power and veracity of God.
Therefore, no such deductions can be made terms of communion, but do
properly belong to the after and progressive edification of the Church. Hence,
it is evident that no such deductions or inferential truths ought to have any
place in the Church's confession.
7. That although doctrinal exhibitions of the great system of Divine
truths, and defensive testimonies in opposition to prevailing errors, be highly
expedient, and the more full and explicit they be for those purposes, the better;
yet, as these must be in a great measure the effect of human reasoning, and of
course must contain many inferential truths, they ought not to be made terms
of Christian communion; unless we suppose, what is contrary to fact, that
none have a right to the communion of the Church, but such as possess a very
clear and decisive judgment, or are come to a very high degree of doctrinal
information; whereas the Church from the beginning did, and ever will,
consist of little children and young men, as well as fathers.
8. That as it is not necessary that persons should have a particular
knowledge or distinct apprehension of all Divinely revealed truths in order to
entitle them to a place in the Church; neither should they, for this purpose, be
required to make a profession more extensive than their knowledge; but that,
on the contrary, their having a due measure of Scriptural self-knowledge
respecting their lost and perishing condition by nature and practice, and of the
way of salvation through Jesus Christ, accompanied with a profession of their
faith in and obedience to him, in all things, according to his word, is all that is
absolutely necessary to qualify them for admission into his Church.
9. That all that are enabled through grace to make such a profession,
and to manifest the reality of it in their tempers and conduct, should consider
each other as the precious saints of God, should love each other as brethren,
children of the same family and Father, temples of the same Spirit, members
of the same body, subjects of the same grace, objects of the same Divine love,
bought with the same price, and joint-heirs of the same inheritance. Whom
God hath thus joined together no man should dare to put asunder.
10. That division among the Christians is a horrid evil, fraught with
many evils. It is antichristian, as it destroys the visible unity of the body of
Christ; as if he were divided against himself, excluding and excommunicating
a part of himself. It is antiscriptural, as being strictly prohibited by his
sovereign authority; a direct violation of his express command. It is
antinatural, as it excites Christians to contemn, to hate, and oppose one
another, who are bound by the highest and most endearing obligations to love
each other as brethren, even as Christ has loved them. In a word, it is
productive of confusion and of every evil work.
11. That (in some instances) a partial neglect of the expressly revealed
will of God, and (in others) an assumed authority for making the approbation
of human opinions and human inventions a term of communion, by
introducing them into the constitution, faith, or worship of the Church, are,
and have been, the immediate, obvious, and universally acknowledged causes,
of all the corruptions and divisions that ever have taken place in the Church of
God.
12. That all that is necessary to the highest state of perfection and purity
of the Church upon earth is, first, that none be received as members but such
as having that due measure of Scriptural self-knowledge described above, do
profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the
Scriptures; nor, secondly, that any be retained in her communion longer than
they continue to manifest the reality of their profession by their temper and
conduct. Thirdly, that her ministers, duly and Scripturally qualified, inculcate
none other things than those very articles of faith and holiness expressly
revealed and enjoined in the word of God. Lastly, that in all their
administrations they keep close by the observance of all Divine ordinances,
after the example of the primitive Church, exhibited in the New Testament;
without any additions whatsoever of human opinions or inventions of men.
13. Lastly. That if any circumstantials indispensably necessary to the
observance of Divine ordinances be not found upon the page of express
revelation, such, and such only, as are absolutely necessary for this purpose
should be adopted under the title of human expedients, without any pretense to
a more sacred origin, so that any subsequent alteration or difference in
the observance of these things might produce no contention nor division in the
Church.
From the nature and construction of these propositions, it will evidently
appear, that they are laid in a designed subserviency to the declared end of our
association; and are exhibited for the express purpose of performing a duty of
previous necessity, a duty loudly called for in existing circumstances at the
hand of every one that would desire to promote the interests of Zion; a duty
not only enjoined, as has been already observed from Isaiah lvii: 14, but which
is also there predicted of the faithful remnant as a thing in which they
would voluntarily engage. "He that putteth his trust in me shall possess the
land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; and shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up,
prepare the way; take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people."
To prepare the way for a permanent Scriptural unity among Christians, by
calling up to their consideration fundamental truths, directing their attention
to first principles, clearing the way before them by removing the
stumbling-blocks--the rubbish of ages, which has been thrown upon it, and
fencing it on each side, that in advancing toward the desired object they may
not miss the way through mistake or inadvertency, by turning aside to the right
hand or to the left, is, at least, the sincere intention of the above propositions.
It remains with our brethren now to say, how far they go toward answering
this intention. Do they exhibit truths demonstrably evident in the light of
Scripture and right reason, so that to deny any part of them the contrary
assertion would be manifestly absurd and inadmissible? Considered as a
preliminary for the above purpose, are they adequate, so that if acted upon,
they would infallibly lead to the desired issue? If evidently defective in
either of these respects, let them be corrected and amended, till they become
sufficiently evident, adequate, and unexceptionable. In the mean time let them
be examined with rigor, with all the rigor that justice, candor, and charity will
admit. If we have mistaken the way, we shall be glad to be set right; but if, in
the mean time, we have been happily led to suggest obvious and undeniable
truths, which, if adopted and acted upon, would infallibly lead to the desired
unity, and secure it when obtained, we hope it will be no objection that they
have not proceeded from a General Council. It is not the voice of the
multitude, but the voice of truth, that has power with the conscience; that can
produce rational conviction and acceptable obedience. A conscience that
awaits the decision of the multitude, that hangs in suspense for the casting
vote of the majority, is a fit subject for the man of sin. This, we are persuaded,
is the uniform sentiment of real Christians of every denomination. Would to
God that all professors were such, then should our eyes soon behold the
prosperity of Zion; we should soon see Jerusalem a quiet habitation. Union in
truth has been, and ever must be, the desire and prayer of all such, "Union in
Truth" is our motto. The Divine word is our standard; in the Lord's name do
we display our banners. Our eyes are upon the promises, "So shall they fear
the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun."
"When the enemy shall come in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up
a standard against him." Our humble desire is to be his standard-bearers, to
fight under his banner, and with his weapons, "which are not carnal, but
mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;" even all these
strong holds of division, those partition walls of separation, which, like the
walls of Jericho, have been built up, as it were, to the very heavens, to
separate God's people, to divide his flock and so to prevent them
from entering into their promised rest, at least in so far as it respects this
world. An enemy hath done this, but he shall not finally prevail; "for the meek
shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of
peace." "And the kingdom and dominion, even the greatness of the kingdom
under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High, and they shall possess it forever." But this can not be in their present
broken and divided state; "for a kingdom or a house divided against itself
cannot stand; but cometh to desolation." Now this has been the case with the
Church for a long time. However, "the Lord will not cast off his people,
neither will he forsake his heritage; but judgment shall return unto
righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it." To all such, and
such alone, are our expectations directed. Come, then, ye blessed of the Lord,
we have your prayers, let us also have your actual assistance. What, shall
we pray for a thing and not strive to obtain it !
We call, we invite you again, by every consideration in these premises.
You that are near, associate with us; you that are at too great a distance,
associate as we have done. Let not the paucity of your number in any given
district, prove an insuperable discouragement. Remember Him that has said,
"If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it
shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven: for where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." With such
a promise as this, for the attainment of every possible and promised good,
there is no room for discouragement Come on then, "ye that fear the Lord;
keep not silence, and give him no rest till he make Jerusalem a joy and a
praise in the earth." Put on that noble resolution dictated by the prophet,
saying, "For Zion's sake will we not hold our peace, and for Jerusalem's sake
we will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the
salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth." Thus impressed, you will find means
to associate at such convenient distances, as to meet at least once a month; to
beseech the Lord to put an end to our lamentable divisions; to heal and unite
his people, that his Church may resume her original constitutional unity and
purity, and thus be exalted to the enjoyment of her promised prosperity, that
the Jews may be speedily converted, and the fullness of the Gentiles brought
in. Thus associated, you will be in a capacity to investigate the evil causes of
our sad divisions; to consider and bewail their pernicious effects; and
to mourn over them before the Lord--who hath said: "I will go and return to
my place, till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face." Alas! then,
what reasonable prospect can we have of being delivered from those sad
calamities, which have so long afflicted the Church of God; while a party
spirit, instead of be wailing, is everywhere justifying, the bitter principle
of these pernicious evils; by insisting upon the right of rejecting those,
however unexceptionable in other respects, who cannot see with them in
matters of private opinion, of human inference, that are nowhere expressly
revealed or enjoined in the word of God. Thus associated, will the friends of
peace, the advocates for Christian unity, be in a capacity to connect in
larger circles, where several of those smaller societies may meet
semi-annually at a convenient center; and thus avail themselves of their
combined exertions for promoting the interests of the common cause. We
hope that many of the Lord's ministers in all places will volunteer in this
service, forasmuch as they know it is his favorite work, the very desire of his
soul.
You lovers of Jesus, and beloved of him, however scattered in this
cloudy and dark day, you love the truth as it is in Jesus (if our hearts deceive
us not); so do we. You desire union in Christ with all them that love him; so
do we. You lament and bewail our sad divisions; so do we. You reject the
doctrines and commandments of men, that you may keep the law of Christ; so
do we. You believe that the word itself ought to be our rule, and not any
human explication of it; so do we. You believe that no man has a right to
judge, to exclude, or reject his professing Christian brother, except in so far as
he stands condemned or rejected by the express letter of the law; so do we.
You believe that the great fundamental law of unity and love ought not to be
violated to make way for exalting human opinions to an equality with express
revelation, by making them articles of faith and terms of communion; so do
we. You sincere and impartial followers of Jesus, friends of truth and peace,
we dare not, we cannot think otherwise of you; it would be doing violence to
your character; it would be inconsistent with your prayers and profession so to
do. We shall therefore have your hearty concurrence. But if any of our dear
brethren, from whom we should expect better things, should, through
weakness or prejudice, be in anything otherwise minded than we have
ventured to suppose, we charitably hope that, in due time, God will reveal
even this unto them; only let such neither refuse to come to the light, nor yet,
through prejudice, reject it when it shines upon them. Let them rather
seriously consider what we have thus most seriously and respectfully
submitted to their consideration; weigh every sentiment in the balance of the
sanctuary, as in the sight of God, with earnest prayer for, and humble reliance
upon, his Spirit, and not in the spirit of self-sufficiency and party zeal; and, in
so doing, we rest assured, the consequence will be happy, both for their own
and the Church's peace. Let none imagine, that in so saying, we arrogate to
ourselves a degree of intelligence superior to our brethren; much less superior
to mistake. So far from this, our confidence is entirely founded upon the
express Scripture and matter-of-fact evidence of the things referred to; which
may, nevertheless, through inattention or prejudice, fail to produce their
proper effect, as has been the case with respect to some of the most evident
truths in a thousand instances. But charity thinketh no evil; and we are far
from surmising, though we must speak. To warn, even against possible evils,
is certainly no breach of charity, as to be confident of the certainty of
some things is no just argument of presumption. We by no means claim the
approbation of our brethren as to any thing we have suggested for promoting
the sacred cause of Christian unity, further than it carries its own evidence
along with it; but we humbly claim a fair investigation of the subject, and
solicit the assistance of our brethren for carrying into effect what we have thus
weakly attempted. It is our consolation, in the mean time, that the desired
event, as certain as it will be happy and glorious, admits of no dispute,
however we may hesitate or differ about the proper means of promoting it. All
we shall venture to say as to this is, that we trust we have taken the proper
ground; at least, if we have not, we despair of finding it elsewhere. For, if
holding fast in profession and practice whatever is expressly revealed and
enjoined in the Divine standard does not, under the promised influence of
the Divine Spirit, prove an adequate basis for promoting and maintaining
unity, peace, and purity, we utterly despair of attaining those invaluable
privileges, by adopting the standard of any party. To advocate the cause of
unity, while espousing the interests of a party, would appear as absurd as for
this country to take part with either of the belligerents in the present awful
struggle, which has convulsed and is convulsing the nations, in order to
maintain her neutrality and secure her peace. Nay, it would be adopting the
very means by which the bewildered Church has, for hundreds of years
past, been rending and dividing herself into factions, for Christ's sake, and for
the truth's sake; though the first and foundation truth of our Christianity is
union with him, and the very next to it in order, union with each other in him--
"that we receive each other, as Christ has also received us, to the glory of
God." "For this is his commandment: That we believe in his Son Jesus Christ,
and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his
commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him; and hereby we know that he
dwelleth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us," even the spirit of faith,
and of love, and of a sound mind. And surely this should suffice us. But how
to love and receive our brother, as we believe and hope Christ has received
both him and us, and yet refuse to hold communion with him, is, we confess,
a mystery too deep for us. If this be the way that Christ hath received us, then
woe is unto us. We do not here in tend a professed brother transgressing the
express letter of the law, and refusing to be reclaimed. Whatever may be our
charity in such a case, we have not sufficient evidence that Christ has received
him, or that he has received Christ as his teacher and Lord. To adopt means,
then, apparently subversive of the very end proposed, means which the
experience of ages has evinced successful only in overthrowing the visible
interests of Christianity, in counteracting, as far as possible, the declared
intention, the express command of its Divine author, would appear in no wise
a prudent measure for removing and preventing those evils. To maintain unity
and purity has always been the plausible pretense of the compilers and
abettors of human systems, and we believe, in many instances, their sincere
intention; but have they at all answered the end? Confessedly, demonstrably,
they have not; no, not even in the several parties which have most strictly
adopted them; much less to the catholic professing body. Instead of her
catholic constitutional unity and purity, what does the Church present us with,
at this day, but a catalogue of sects and sectarian systems--each binding
its respective party, by the most sacred and solemn engagements, to continue
as it is to the end of the world; at least, this is confessedly the case with many
of them. What a sorry substitute these for Christian unity and love! On the
other hand, what a mercy is it that no human obligation that man can come
under is valid against the truth. When the Lord the healer descends upon his
people, to give them a discovery of the nature and tendency of those artificial
bonds wherewith they have suffered themselves to be bound in their dark
and sleepy condition, they will no more be able to hold them in a state of
sectarian bondage than the withes and cords with which the Philistines bound
Samson were able to retain him their prisoner, or than the bonds of Antichrist
were to hold in captivity the fathers of the Reformation. May the Lord soon
open the eyes of his people to see things in their true light, and excite them to
come up out of their wilderness condition, out of this Babel of confusion,
leaning upon their Beloved, and embracing each other in him, holding fast
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. This gracious unity and unanimity
in Jesus would afford the best external evidence of their union with him, and
of their conjoint interest in the Father's love. "By this shah all men know that
you are my disciples," says he, "if you have love one to another." And "This is
my commandment, That you love one another as I have loved you; that you
also love one another." And again, "Holy Father, keep through thine own
name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are"; even
"all that shall believe in me; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in
me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given
them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me." May the
Lord hasten it in his time. Farewell.

Peace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Amen.

THOMAS CAMPBELL,
THOMAS ACHESON.

APPENDIX

To prevent mistakes, we beg leave to subjoin the following
explanations. As to what we have done, our reasons for so doing, and the
grand object we would desire to see accomplished, all these, we presume,
are sufficiently declared in the foregoing pages. As to what we intend to do in
our associate capacity, and the ground we have taken in that capacity, though
expressly and definitely declared, yet these, perhaps, might be liable to some
misconstruction. First, then, we beg leave to assure our brethren that we have
no intention to interfere, either directly or indirectly, with the peace and order
of the settled Churches, by directing any ministerial assistance with which the
Lord may please to favor us, to make inroads upon such; or by endeavoring to
erect Churches out of Churches, to distract and divide congregations. We have
no nostrum, no peculiar discovery of our own to propose to fellow-Christians,
for the fancied importance of which they should become followers of us. We
propose to patronize nothing but the inculcation of the express word of God,
either as to matter of faith or practice; but every one that has a Bible, and can
read it, can read this for himself. Therefore, we have nothing new. Neither
do we pretend to acknowledge persons to be ministers of Christ, and, at the
same time, consider it our duty to forbid or discourage people to go to hear
them, merely because they may hold some things disagreeable to us; much
less to encourage their people to leave them on that account. And such do we
esteem all who preach a free, unconditional salvation through the blood
of Jesus to perishing sinners of every description, and who manifestly connect
with this a life of holiness and pastoral diligence in the performance of all the
duties of their sacred office, according to the Scriptures, of even all of whom,
as to all appearance, it may be truly said to the objects of their charge: "They
seek not yours, but you." May the good Lord prosper all such, by whatever
name they are called, and hasten that happy period when Zion's watchmen
shall see eye to eye, and all be called by the same name. Such, then, have
nothing to fear from our association, were our resources equal to our utmost
wishes. But all others we esteem as hirelings, as idle shepherds, and should be
glad to see the Lord's flock delivered from their mouth, ac cording to his
promise. Our principal and proper design, then, with respect to ministerial
assistants, such as we have described in our fifth resolution, is to direct their
attention to those places where there is manifest need for their labors; and
many such places there are; would to God it were in our power to supply
them. As to creeds and confessions, although we may appear to our brethren
to oppose them, yet this is to be under stood only in so far as they oppose the
unity of the Church, by containing sentiments not expressly revealed in the
word of God; or, by the way of using them, become the instruments of a
human or implicit faith, or oppress the weak of God's heritage. Where they are
liable to none of those objections, we have nothing against them. It is the
abuse and not the lawful use of such compilations that we oppose. See
Proposition 7, page 46. Our intention, therefore, with respect to all the
Churches of Christ is perfectly amicable. We heartily wish their reformation,
but by no means their hurt or confusion. Should any affect to say that our
coming forward as we have done, in advancing and publishing such things,
has a manifest tendency to distract and divide the Churches, or to make a
new party, we treat it as a confident and groundless assertion, and must
suppose they have not duly considered, or, at least, not well understood the
subject.
All we shall say to this at present, is, that if the Divine word be not the
standard of a party, then are we not a party, for we have adopted no other. If
to maintain its alone sufficiency be not a party principle, then are we not a
party. If to justify this principle by our practice, in making a rule of it, and of it
alone, and not of our own opinions, nor of those of others, be not a party
principle, then are we not a party. If to propose and practice neither more nor
less than it expressly reveals and enjoins be not a partial business, then are we
not a party. These are the very sentiments we have approved and
recommended, as a society formed for the express purpose of promoting
Christian unity, in opposition to a party spirit. Should any tell us that to do
these things is impossible without the intervention of human reason and
opinion, we humbly thank them for the discovery. But who ever thought
otherwise? Were we not rational subjects, and of course capable of
understanding and forming opinions, would it not evidently appear that, to us,
revelation of any kind would be quite useless, even suppose it as evident as
mathematics? We pretend not, therefore, to divest ourselves of reason, that we
may become quiet, inoffensive, and peaceable Christians; nor yet, of any of its
proper and legitimate operations upon Divinely revealed truths. We only
pretend to assert, what every one that pretends to reason must acknowledge,
namely, that there is a manifest distinction between an express Scripture
declaration, and the conclusion or inference which may be deduced from
it; and that the former may be clearly understood, even where the latter is but
imperfectly if at all perceived; and that we are at least as certain of the
declaration as we can be of the conclusion we drew from it; and that, after all,
the conclusion ought not to be exalted above the premises, so as to make void
the declaration for the sake of establishing our own conclusion; and that,
therefore, the express commands to preserve and maintain inviolate Christian
unity and love, ought not to be set aside to make way for exalting our
inferences above the express authority of God. Our inference, upon the whole,
is, that where a professing Christian brother opposes or refuses nothing either
in faith or practice, for which there can be expressly produced a "Thus saith
the Lord," that we ought not to reject him because he cannot see with our eyes
as to matters of human inference, of private judgment. "Through thy
knowledge shall the weak brother perish? How walkest thou not charitably?"
Thus we reason, thus we conclude, to make no conclusion of our own, nor
of any other fallible fellow-creature, a rule of faith or duty to our brother.
Whether we refuse reason, then, or abuse it, in our so doing, let our brethren
judge. But, after all, we have only ventured to suggest what, in other words,
the apostle has expressly taught; namely, that the strong ought to bear with the
infirmities of the weak, and not to please themselves; that we ought to receive
him that is weak in the faith, because God has received him. In a word, that
we ought to receive one another, as Christ hath also received us to the glory of
God. We dare not, therefore, patronize the rejection of God's dear children,
because they may not be able to see alike in matters of human inference--of
private opinion; and such we esteem all things not expressly revealed and
enjoined in the word of God. If otherwise, we know not what private opinion
means. On the other hand, should our peaceful and affectionate overture for
union in truth prove offensive to any of our brethren, or occasion disturbances
in any of the Churches, the blame cannot be attached to us. We have only
ventured to persuade, and, if possible, to excite to the performance of an
important duty--a duty equally incumbent upon us all. Neither have
we pretended to dictate to them what they should do. We have only proposed
what appeared to us most likely to promote the desired event, humbly
submitting the whole premises to their candid and impartial investigation, to
be altered, corrected, and amended, as they see cause, or to adopt any other
plan that may appear more just and unexceptionable. As for ourselves,
we have taken all due care, in the mean time, to take no step that might throw
a stumbling-block in the way, that might prove now, or at any future period, a
barrier to prevent the accomplishment of that most desirable object, either by
joining to support a party, or by patronizing anything as articles of faith or
duty not expressly enjoined in the Divine standard; as we are sure, whatever
alterations may take place, that will stand. That considerable alterations must
and will take place, in the standards of all the sects, before that glorious object
can be accomplished, no man, that duly considers the matter, can possibly
doubt. In so far, then, we have at least endeavored to act consistently; and with
the same consistency would desire to be instrumental in erecting as many
Churches as possible throughout the desolate places of God's heritage,
upon the same catholic foundation, being well persuaded that every such
erection will not only in the issue prove an accession to the general cause, but
will also, in the mean time, be a step toward it, and, of course, will reap the
first-fruits of that blissful harvest that will fill the face of the world with fruit.
For if the first Christian Churches, walking in the fear of the Lord in holy
unity and unanimity, enjoyed the comforts of the Holy Spirit, and were
increased and edified, we have reason to believe that walking in their footsteps
will every where and at all times insure the same blessed privileges. And it is
in an exact conformity to their recorded and approved example, that we,
through grace, would be desirous to promote the erection of Churches; and
this we believe to be quite practicable, if the legible and authentic records of
their faith and practice be handed down to us upon the page of New
Testament Scripture; but if otherwise, we cannot help it. Yet, even in this case,
might we not humbly presume that the Lord would take the will for the deed?
for if there be first a willing mind, we are told, "it is accepted according to
what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not." It would appear,
then, that sincerely and humbly adopting this model, with an entire reliance
upon promised grace, we cannot, we shall not, be disappointed. By this, at
least, we shall get rid of two great evils, which, we fear, are at this day
grievously provoking the Lord to plead a controversy with the Churches: we
mean the taking and giving of unjust offenses; judging and rejecting each
other in matters wherein the Lord hath not judged, in a flat contradiction to his
expressly revealed will. But, according to the principle adopted, we can
neither take offense at our brother for his private opinions, if he be content to
hold them as such, nor yet offend him with ours, if he do not usurp the place
of the lawgiver; and even suppose he should, in this case we judge him,
not for his opinions, but for his presumption. "There is one Lawgiver, who is
able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?" But further, to
prevent mistakes, we beg leave to explain our meaning in a sentence or two
which might possibly be misunderstood. In the first page we say, that no man
has a right to judge his brother, except in so far as he manifestly violates the
express letter of the law. By the law here, and elsewhere, when taken in this
latitude, we mean that whole revelation of faith and duty expressly declared in
the Divine word, taken together, or in its due connection, upon every article,
and not any detached sentence. We understand it as extending to all
prohibitions, as well as to all requirements. "Add thou not unto his words, lest
he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." We dare, therefore, neither do nor
receive anything as of Divine obligation for which there cannot be expressly
produced a "Thus saith the Lord," either in express terms or by approved
precedent. According to this rule we judge, and beyond it we dare not go.
Taking this sentiment in connection with the last clause of the fifth resolution,
we are to be understood, of all matters of faith and practice, of primary and
universal obligation; that is to say, of ex press revelation; that nothing be
inculcated, as such, for which there cannot be expressly produced a
"Thus saith the Lord," as above, without, at the same time, interfering directly
or indirectly with the private judgment of any individual, which does not
expressly contradict the express letter of the law, or add to the number of its
institutions. Every sincere and upright Christian will understand and do the
will of God, in every instance, to the best of his skill and judgment; but in the
application of the general rule to particular cases there may, and doubtless
will, be some variety of opinion and practice. This, we see, was actually
the case in the apostolic Churches, without any breach of Christian unity; and
if this was the case at the erection of the Christian Church from among Jews
and Gentiles, may we not reasonably expect that it will be the same at her
restoration from under her long antichristian and sectarian desolations?
With a direct reference to this state of things, and, as we humbly think,
in a perfect consistency with the foregoing explanations, have we expressed
ourselves in the thirty-ninth page, wherein we declare ourselves ready to
relinquish whatever we have hitherto received as matter of faith or practice,
not expressly taught and enjoined in the word of God, so that we and our
brethren might by this mutual concession, return together to the original
constitutional unity of the Christian Church, and dwell together in peace and
charity. By this proposed relinquishment we are to be understood, in the first
instance, of our manner of holding those things, and not simply of the things
themselves; for no man can relinquish his opinions or practices till once
convinced that they are wrong; and this he may not be immediately, even
supposing they were so. One thing, however, he may do: when not bound by
an express command, he need not impose them upon others, by anywise
requiring their approbation; and when this is done, the things, to them, are as
good as dead, yea, as good as buried, too, being thus removed out of the
way. Has not the apostle set us a noble example of this in his pious and
charitable zeal for the comfort and edification of his brother, in declaring
himself ready to forego his rights (not indeed to break commandments) rather
than stumble, or offend, his brother? And who knows not that the Hebrew
Christians abstained from certain meats, observed certain days, kept the
passover, circumcised their children, etc., etc., while no such things were
practiced by the Gentile converts, and yet no breach of unity while they
charitably forbore one with the other. But had the Jews been expressly
prohibited, or the Gentiles expressly enjoined, by the authority of Jesus, to
observe these things, could they, in such a case, have lawfully exercised this
forbearance? But where no express law is, there can be no formal, no
intentional transgression, even although its implicit and necessary
consequences had forbid the thing, had they been discovered. Upon the whole,
we see one thing is evident: the Lord will bear with the weaknesses, the
involuntary ignorances, and mistakes of his people, though not with their
presumption. Ought they not, therefore, to bear with each other--"to preserve
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; forbearing one with another in
love?" What says the Scripture? We say, then, the declaration referred to is to
be thus understood in the first instance; though we do not say but something
further is intended. For certainly we may lawfully suspend both declaration
and practice upon any subject, where the law is silent; when to do otherwise
must prevent the accomplishment of an expressly commanded and highly
important duty; and such, confessedly, is the thing in question. What says the
apostle? "All things are lawful for me; but all things are not expedient. All
things are lawful for me; but all things edify not." It seems, then, that among
lawful things which might be for borne--that is, as we humbly conceive, things
not expressly commanded--the governing principle of the apostle's conduct
was the edification of his brethren of the Church of God. A Divine principle
this, indeed! May the Lord God infuse it into all his people. Were all those
nonpreceptive opinions and practices which have been maintained and exalted
to the destruction of the Church's unity, counterbalanced with the breach of the
express law of Christ, and the black catalogue of mischiefs which have
necessarily ensued, on which side, think you, would be the preponderance?
When weighed in the balance with this monstrous complex evil, would they
not all appear lighter than vanity? Who, then, would not relinquish a cent to
obtain a kingdom! And here let it be noted, that it is not the renunciation of an
opinion or practice as sinful that is proposed or intended, but merely a
cessation from the publishing or practicing it, so as to give offense; a thing
men are in the habit of doing every day for their private comfort or secular
emolument, where the ad vantage is of infinitely less importance. Neither
is there here any clashing of duties, as if to forbear was a sin and also to
practice was sin; the thing to be forborne being a matter of private opinion,
which, though not expressly forbidden, yet are we by no means expressly
commanded to practice; whereas we are expressly commanded to endeavor to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And what says
the apostle to the point in hand? "Hast thou faith," says he; "have it to thyself
before God. Happy is the man that condemneth not himself in the thing which
he alloweth."
It may be further added, that a still higher and more perfect degree of
uniformity is intended, though neither in the first nor second instance, which
are but so many steps toward it; namely: the utter abolition of those minor
differences, which have been greatly increased, as well as continued, by our
unhappy manner of treating them, in making them the subject of perpetual
strife and contention. Many of the opinions which are now dividing the
Church, had they been let alone, would have been long since dead and gone;
but the constant insisting upon them, as articles of faith and terms of
salvation, have so beaten them into the minds of men, that, in many instances,
they would as soon deny the Bible itself as give up one of those opinions.
Having thus embraced contentions and preferred divisions to that
constitutional unity, peace, and charity so essential to Christianity, it would
appear that the Lord, in righteous judgment, has abandoned his
professing people to the awful scourge of those evils; as, in an in stance
somewhat similar, he formerly did his highly favored Israel. "My people," says
he, "would not hearken to my voice. So I gave them up to their own hearts'
lusts, and they walked in their own counsels." "Israel hath made many altars to
sin: therefore altars shall be unto him to sin." Thus, then are we to be
consistently understood, as fully and fairly intending, on our part, what we
have declared and proposed to our brethren, as, to our apprehension,
incumbent upon them and us, for putting an end for ever to our sad and
lamentable schisms. Should any object and say that, after all, the fullest
compliance with everything proposed and intended would not re store the
Church to the desired unity, as there might remain differences of opinion and
practice; let such but duly consider what properly belongs to the unity of
the Church, and we are persuaded this objection will vanish. Does not the
visible Scriptural unity of the Christian Church consist in the unity of her
public profession and practice, and, under this, in the manifest charity of her
members, one toward another, and not in the unity of private opinion and
practice of every individual? Was not this evidently the case in the apostles'
days, as has been already observed? If so, the objection falls to the ground.
And here let it be noted (if the hint be at all necessary), that we are
speaking of the unity of the Church considered as a great, visible, professing
body, consisting of many co-ordinate associations; each of these, in its
aggregate or associate capacity, walking by the same rule, professing
and practicing the same things. That this visible Scriptural unity be preserved
without corruption, or breach of charity, throughout the whole, and in every
particular worshiping society or Church, is the grand desideratum--the thing
strictly enjoined and greatly to be desired. An agreement in the expressly
revealed will of God is the adequate and firm foundation of this unity; ardent
prayer, accompanied with prudent, peaceable, and persevering exertion, in the
use of all Scriptural means for accomplishing it, are the things humbly
suggested and earnestly recommended to our brethren. If we have mistaken
the way, their charity will put us right; but if otherwise, their fidelity to
Christ and his cause will excite them to come forth speedily, to assist with us
in this blessed work.
After all, should any impeach us with the vague charge of
Latitudinarianism (let none be startled at this gigantic term), it will prove as
feeble an opponent to the glorious cause in which we, however weak
and unworthy, are professedly engaged, as the Zamzummins did of old, to
prevent the children of Lot from taking possession of their inheritance. If we
take no greater latitude than the Divine law allows, either in judging of
persons or doctrines--either in profession or practice (and this is the very thing
we humbly propose and sincerely intend), may we not reasonably hope
that such a latitude will appear, to every upright Christian, perfectly innocent
and unexceptionable? If this be Latitudinarianism, it must be a good thing,
and, therefore, the more we have of it the better; and may be it is, for we are
told, "the commandment is exceeding broad;" and we intend to go just as far
as it will suffer us, but not one hairbreadth further; so, at least, says our
profession. And surely it will be time enough to condemn our practice, when it
appears manifestly inconsistent with the profession we have thus precisely and
explicitly made. We here refer to the whole of the foregoing premises. But
were this word as bad as it is long, were it stuffed with evil from beginning
to end, may be it better belongs to those that brandish it so unmercifully at
their neighbors, especially if they take a greater latitude than their neighbors
do, or than the Divine law allows. Let the case, then, be fairly submitted to all
that know their Bible, to all that take upon them to see with their own eyes, to
judge for themselves. And here let it be observed once for all, that it is only to
such we direct our attention in the foregoing pages. As for those that either
cannot or will not see and judge for themselves, they must be content to
follow their leaders till they come to their eyesight, or determine to make use
of the faculties and means of information which God has given them;
with such, in the mean time, it would be useless to reason, seeing that they
either confessedly cannot see, or have completely resigned themselves to the
conduct of their leaders, and are therefore determined to hearken to none but
them. If there be none such, however, we are happily deceived; but, if so, we
are not the only persons that are thus deceived; for this is the common fault
objected by almost all the parties to each other, namely, that they either cannot
or will not see; and it would be hard to think they were all mistaken; the fewer
there be, however, of this description, the better. To all those, then, that are
disposed to see and think for themselves, to form their judgment by the
Divine word itself, and not by any human explication of it, humbly relying
upon and looking for the promised assistance of Divine teaching, and not
barely trusting to their own understanding--to all such do we gladly commit
our cause, being persuaded that, at least, they will give it a very serious and
impartial consideration, as being truly desirous to know the truth. To
you, then, we appeal, in the present instance, as we have also done from the
beginning. Say, we beseech you, to whom does the charge of
Latitudinarianism, when taken in a bad sense (for we have supposed it may
be taken in a good sense), most truly and properly belong, whether to those
that will neither add nor diminish anything as to matter of faith and duty,
either to or from what is expressly revealed and enjoined in the holy
Scriptures, or to those who pretend to go further than this, or to set aside some
of its express declarations and injunctions, to make way for their own
opinions, inferences, and conclusions? Whether to those who profess their
willingness to hold communion with their acknowledged Christian brethren,
when they neither manifestly oppose nor contradict anything expressly
revealed and enjoined in the sacred standard, or to those who reject such,
when professing to believe and practice whatever is expressly revealed and
enjoined therein, without, at the same time, being alleged, much less found
guilty, of anything to the contrary, but instead of this asserting and declaring
their hearty as sent and consent to everything for which there can be expressly
produced a "Thus saith the Lord," either in express terms or by approved
precedent? To which of these, think you, does the odious charge of
Latitudinarianism belong? Which of them takes the greatest latitude? Whether
those that expressly judge and condemn where they have no express warrant
for so doing, or those that absolutely refuse so to do? And we can assure our
brethren, that such things are and have been done, to our own certain
knowledge, and even where we least expected it; and that it is to
this discovery, as much as to many other things, that we stand indebted for
that thorough conviction of the evil state of things in the Churches, which has
given rise to our association. As for our part, we dare no longer give our
assent to such proceedings; we dare no longer concur in expressly asserting or
declaring anything in the name of the Lord, that he has not expressly declared
in his holy word. And until such time as Christians come to see the evil of
doing otherwise, we see no rational ground to hope that there can be either
unity, peace, purity, or prosperity, in the Church of God. Convinced of the
truth of this, we would humbly desire to be instrumental in pointing out to our
fellow-Christians the evils of such conduct. And if we might venture to give
our opinion of such proceedings, we would not hesitate to say, that they
appear to include three great evils--evils truly great in themselves, and at
the same time productive of most evil consequences.
First, to determine expressly, in the name of the Lord, when the Lord
has not expressly determined, appears to us a very great evil. (See Deut. xviii:
20:) "The prophet that shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I
have not commanded him to speak, even that prophet shall die." The apostle
Paul, no doubt, well aware of this cautiously distinguishes between his own
judgment and the express injunctions of the Lord. (See I Cor. vii: 25 and 40.)
Though, at the same time, it appears that he was as well convinced of the truth
and propriety of his declarations, and of the concurrence of the Holy Spirit
with his judgment, as any of our modern determiners may be; for "I think,"
said he, "that I have the Spirit of God;" and we doubt much, if the best of them
could honestly say more than this; yet we see that, with all this, he would not
bind the Church with his conclusions; and, for this very reason, as he
expressly tells us, because, as to the matter on hand, he had no commandment
of the Lord. He spoke by permission, and not by commandment, as one that
had obtained mercy to be faithful, and there fore would not forge his Master's
name by affixing it to his own conclusions, saying, "The Lord saith, when the
Lord had not spoken."
A second evil is, not only judging our brother to be absolutely wrong,
because he differs from our opinions, but more especially, our judging him to
be a transgressor of the law in so doing, and, of course, treating him as such
by censuring or otherwise exposing him to contempt, or, at least, preferring
ourselves before him in our own judgment, saying, as it were, Stand by, I am
holier than thou.
A third and still more dreadful evil is, when we not only, in this kind of
way, judge and set at naught our brother, but, moreover, proceed as a Church,
acting and judging in the name of Christ, not only to deter mine that our
brother is wrong because he differs from our determinations, but also, in
connection with this, proceed so far as to determine the merits of the cause by
rejecting him, or casting him out of the Church, as unworthy of a place in her
communion, and thus, as far as in our power, cutting him off from the
kingdom of heaven. In proceeding thus, we not only declare, that, in our
judgment, our brother is in an error, which we may sometimes do in a perfect
consistence with charity, but we also take upon us to judge, as acting in the
name and by the authority of Christ, that his error cuts him off from salvation;
that continuing such, he has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
of God. If not, what means our refusing him--our casting him out of the
Church, which is the kingdom of God in this world? For certainly, if a person
have no right, according to the Divine word, to a place in the Church of God
upon earth (which we say he has not, by thus rejecting him), he can have none
to a place in the Church in heaven--unless we should suppose that those whom
Christ by his word rejects here, he will nevertheless receive hereafter. And
surely it is by the word that every Church pretends to judge; and it is by this
rule, in the case before us, that the person in the judgment of the Church
stands rejected. Now is not this, to all intents and purposes, determining
the merits of the cause? Do we not conclude that the per son's error cuts him
off from all ordinary possibility of salvation, by thus cutting him off from a
place in the Church, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation?
Does he not henceforth become to us as a heathen man and a publican? Is he
not reckoned among the number of those that are without, whom God
judgeth? If not, what means such a solemn determination? Is it anything or is
it nothing, for a per son to stand rejected by the Church of God? If
such rejection confessedly leave the man still in the same safe and hopeful
state as to his spiritual interests, then, indeed, it becomes a matter of mere
indifference; for as to his civil and natural privileges, it interferes not with
them. But the Scripture gives us a very different view of the matter; for there
we see that those that stand justly rejected by the Church on earth, have no
room to hope for a place in the Church of heaven. "What ye bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven" is the awful sanction of the Church's judgment, in
justly rejecting any person. Take away this, and it has no sanction at all. But
the Church rejecting, always pretends to have acted justly in so doing, and, if
so, whereabouts does it confessedly leave the person rejected, if not in a state
of damnation? that is to say, if it acknowledge itself to be a Church of Christ,
and to have acted justly. If, after all, any particular Church acting thus should
refuse the foregoing conclusion, by saying: We meant no such thing
concerning the person rejected; we only judged him unworthy of a place
among us, and therefore put him away, but there are other Churches that may
receive him; we would be al most tempted to ask such a Church, if those other
Churches be Churches of Christ, and if so, pray what does it account itself? Is
it anything more or better than a Church of Christ? And whether, if those
other Churches do their duty as faithful Churches, any of them would receive
the person it had rejected? If it be answered that, in acting faithfully, none of
those other Churches either could or would receive him, then, confessedly, in
the judgment of this particular Church, the person ought to be universally
rejected; but if otherwise, it condemns itself of having acted unfaithfully, nay
cruelly, toward a Christian brother, a child of God, in thus rejecting him from
the heritage of the Lord, in thus cutting him off from his Father's house, as the
unnatural brethren did the beloved Joseph. But even suppose some one or
other of those unfaithful Churches should receive the outcast, would their
unfaithfulness in so doing nullify, in the judgment of this more faithful
Church, its just and faithful decision in rejecting him? If not, then,
confessedly, in its judgment, the person still remains under the influence of its
righteous sentence, debarred from the kingdom of heaven; that is to say, if it
believe the Scriptures, that what it has righteously done upon earth is
ratified in heaven. We see no way that a Church acting thus can possibly get
rid of this awful conclusion, except it acknowledges that the person it has
rejected from its communion still has a right to the communion of the Church;
but if it acknowledge this, whereabouts does it leave itself, in thus shutting out
a fellow-Christian, an acknowledged brother, a child of God? Do we find any
parallel for such conduct in the inspired records, except in the case of
Diotrephes, of whom the apostle says, "Who loveth to have the pre-eminence
among them, receiveth us not, prating against us with malicious words: and
not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and
forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the Church."
But further, suppose another Church should receive this castaway, this
person which this faithful Church supposed itself to have righteously rejected,
would not the Church so doing incur the displeasure, nay even the censure of
the Church that had rejected him? and, we should think, justly too if he
deserved to be rejected. And would not this naturally produce a schism
between the Churches? Or, if it be supposed that a schism did already exist,
would not this manifestly tend to perpetuate and increase it? If one Church,
receiving those whom another puts away, will not be productive of schism, we
must confess we cannot tell what would. That Church, therefore, must surely
act very schismatically, very unlike a Church of Christ, which necessarily
presupposes or produces schism in order to shield an oppressed
fellow-Christian from the dreadful consequences of its unrighteous
proceedings. And is not this confessedly the case with every Church
which rejects a person from its communion while it acknowledges him to be a
fellow-Christian; and, in order to excuse this piece of cruelty, says he may find
refuge some place else, some other Church may receive him? For, as we have
already observed, if no schism did already exist, one Church receiving those
whom an other has rejected must certainly make one. The same evils also will
as justly attach to the conduct of an individual who refuses or breaks
communion with a Church because it will not receive or make room for his
private opinions or self-devised practices in its public profession and
managements; for does he not, in this case, actually take upon him to judge
the Church which he thus rejects as unworthy of the communion of
Christians? And is not this, to all intents and purposes, declaring it, in his
judgment, excommunicate, or at least worthy of excommunication?
Thus have we briefly endeavored to show our brethren what evidently
appears to us to be the heinous nature and dreadful consequences of that truly
latitudinarian principle and practice which is the bitter root of almost all our
divisions, namely, the imposing of our private opinions upon each other as
articles of faith or duty, introducing them into the public profession and
practice of the Church, and acting upon them as if they were the express law
of Christ, by judging and rejecting our brethren that differ from us in those
things, or at least by so retaining them in our public profession and practice
that our brethren cannot join with us, or we with them, without becoming
actually partakers in those things which they or we cannot in conscience
approve, and which the word of God no where expressly enjoins upon us. To
cease from all such things by simply returning to the original standard of
Christianity, the profession and practice of the primitive Church, as expressly
exhibited upon the sacred page of New Testament scripture, is the
only possible way that we can perceive to get rid of those evils. And we
humbly think that a uniform agreement in that for the preservation of charity
would be infinitely preferable to our contentions and divisions; nay, that such
a uniformity is the very thing that the Lord requires if the New Testament be a
perfect model, a sufficient formula for the worship, discipline, and
government of the Christian Church. Let us do as we are there expressly told
they did, say as they said; that is, profess and practice as therein expressly
enjoined by precept and precedent, in every possible instance, after their
approved example; and in so doing we shall realize and exhibit all that unity
and uniformity that the primitive Church possessed, or that the law of
Christ requires. But if, after all, our brethren can point out a better way to
regain and preserve that Christian unity and charity expressly enjoined upon
the Church of God, we shall thank them for the discovery, and cheerfully
embrace it.
Should it still be urged that this would open a wide door to
latitudinarianism, seeing all that profess Christianity profess to receive the
holy Scriptures, and yet differ so widely in their religious sentiments, we
say, let them profess what they will, their difference in religious profession
and practice originates in their departure from what is expressly revealed and
enjoined, and not in their strict and faithful conformity to it, which is the thing
we humbly advise for putting an end to those differences. But you may say,
Do they not already all agree in the letter, though differing so far in sentiment?
However this may be, have they all agreed to make the letter their rule, or,
rather, to make it the subject-matter of their profession and practice? Surely
not, or else they would all profess and practice the same thing. Is it not as
evident as the shining light that the Scriptures exhibit but one and the
self-same subject-matter of profession and practice, at all times and in all
places, and that, therefore, to say as it declares, and to do as it prescribes in all
its holy precepts, its approved and imitable examples, would unite the
Christian Church in a holy sameness of profession and practice throughout the
whole world? By the Christian Church throughout the world, we mean the
aggregate of such professors as we have described in Propositions 1 and 8,
pages 48 and 50, even all that mutually acknowledge each other as Christians,
upon the manifest evidence of their faith, holiness, and charity. It is such only
we intend when we urge the necessity of Christian unity. Had only such been
all along recognized as the genuine subjects of our holy religion, there would
not, in all probability, have been so much ap parent need for human formulas
to preserve an external formality of professional unity and soundness in the
faith, but artificial and superficial characters need artificial means to train and
unite them. A manifest attachment to our Lord Jesus Christ in faith, holiness,
and charity, was the original criterion of Christian character, the
distinguishing badge of our holy profession, the foundation and cement of
Christian unity. But now, alas! and long since, an external name, a mere
educational formality of sameness in the profession of a certain standard or
formula of human fabric, with a very moderate degree of what is called
morality, forms the bond and foundation, the root and reason of ecclesiastical
unity. Take away from such the technicalness of their profession, the
shibboleth of party, and what have they more? What have they left to
distinguish and hold them together? As for the Bible, they are but little
beholden to it, they have learned little from it, they know little about it, and
therefore depend as little upon it. Nay, they will even tell you it would be of
no use to them without their formula; they could not know a Papist from a
Protestant by it; that merely by it they could neither keep themselves nor the
Church right for a single week. You might preach to them what you please,
they could not distinguish truth from error. Poor people, it is no wonder they
are so fond of their formula! Therefore they that exercise authority upon them
and tell them what they are to believe and what they are to do, are called
benefactors. These are the reverend and right reverend authors, upon whom
they can and do place a more entire and implicit confidence than upon the
holy apostles and prophets; those plain, honest, unassuming men, who would
never venture to say or do anything in the name of the Lord without an
express revelation from Heaven, and therefore were never distinguished by the
venerable titles of Rabbi or Reverend, but just simple Paul, John, Thomas, etc.
These were but servants. They did not assume to legislate, and, therefore,
neither assumed nor received any honorary titles among men, but merely such
as were descriptive of their office. And how, we beseech you, shall this gross
and prevalent corruption be purged out of the visible professing Church but by
a radical reform, but by returning to the original simplicity, the primitive
purity of the Christian institution, and, of course, taking up things just as we
find them upon the sacred page. And who is there that knows anything of the
present state of the Church who does not perceive that it is greatly over run
with the aforesaid evils? Or who that reads his Bible, and receives the
impressions it must necessarily produce upon the receptive mind by the
statements it exhibits, does not perceive that such a state of things is as
distinct from genuine Christianity as oil is from water?
On the other hand, is it not equally as evident that not one of all the
erroneous tenets and corrupt practices which have so defamed and corrupted
the public profession and practice of Christianity, could ever have appeared in
the world had men kept close by the ex press letter of the Divine law, had they
thus held fast that form of sound words contained in the holy Scriptures, and
considered it their duty so to do, unless they blame those errors and
corruptions upon the very form and expression of the Scriptures, and say that,
taken in their letter and connection, they immediately, and at first sight, as it
were, exhibit the picture they have drawn. Should any be so bold as to assert
this, let them produce their performance, the original is at hand; and let them
show us line for line, expression for expression, precept and precedent for
practice, without the torture of criticism, inference, or conjecture, and then we
shall honestly blame the whole upon the Bible, and thank those that will give
us an expurged edition of it, call it constitution, or formula, or what you
please, that will not be liable to lead the simple, unlettered world into those
gross mistakes, those contentions, schisms, excommunications, and
persecutions which have proved so detrimental and scandalous to our
holy religion.
Should it be further objected, that even this strict literal uniformity
would neither infer nor secure unity of sentiment; it is granted that, in a
certain degree, it would not; nor, indeed, is there anything either in Scripture
or the nature of things that should induce us to expect an entire unity of
sentiment in the present imperfect state. The Church may, and we believe
will, come to such a Scriptural unity of faith and practice, that there will be no
schism in the body, no self-preferring sect of professed and acknowledged
Christians rejecting and excluding their brethren. This cannot be, however, till
the offensive and excluding causes be removed; and every one knows what
these are. But that all the members should have the same identical views of all
Divinely revealed truths, or that there should be no difference of opinion
among them, appears to us morally impossible, all things considered. Nor
can we conceive what desirable purpose such a unity of sentiment would
serve, except to render useless some of those gracious, self-denying, and
compassionate precepts of mutual sympathy and forbearance which the word
of God enjoins upon his people. Such, then, is the imperfection of our present
state. Would to God it might prove, as it ought, a just and humbling
counterbalance to our pride! Then, indeed, we would judge one another no
more about such matters. We would rather be conscientiously cautious to give
no offense; to put no stumbling-block or occasion to fall in our brother's way.
We would then no longer exalt our own opinions and inferences to an equality
with express revelation, by condemning and rejecting our brother for differing
with us in those things.
But although it be granted that the uniformity we plead for would not
secure unity of sentiment, yet we should suppose that it would be as
efficacious for that purpose as any human expedient or substitute whatsoever.
And here we would ask: Have all or any of those human compilations been
able to prevent divisions, to heal breaches, or to produce and maintain unity
of sentiment even among those who have most firmly and solemnly embraced
them? We appeal for this to the history of all the Churches, and to the present
divided state of the Church at large. What good, then, have those divisive
expedients accomplished, either to the parties that have adopted them, or to
the Church universal, which might not have been as well secured by holding
fast in profession and practice that form of sound words contained in the
Divine standard, without, at the same time, being liable to any of those
dangerous and destructive consequences which have necessarily ensued upon
the present mode? Or, will any venture to say that the Scriptures, thus kept in
their proper place, would not have been amply sufficient, under the promised
influence of the Divine Spirit, to have produced all that unity of sentiment
which is necessary to a life of faith and holiness; and also to have preserved
the faith and worship of the Church as pure from mixture and error as the
Lord intended, or as the present imperfect state of his people can possibly
admit? We should tremble to think that any Christian should say that they
would not. And if to use them thus would be sufficient for those purposes,
why resort to other expedients; to expedients which, from the beginning to this
day, have proved utterly insufficient; nay, to expedients which have always
produced the very contrary effects, as experience testifies. Let none here
imagine that we set any certain limits to the Divine intention, or to the
greatness of his power when we thus speak, as if a certain degree of purity
from mixture and error were not designed for the Church in this world, or
attainable by his people upon earth except in so far as respects the attainment
of an angelic or unerring perfection, much less that we mean to suggest that
a very moderate degree of unity and purity should con tent us. We only take it
for granted that such a state of perfection is neither intended nor attainable in
this world, as will free the Church from all those weaknesses, mistakes, and
mismanagements from which she will be completely exempted in heaven,
however sound and upright she may now be in her profession, intention, and
practice. Neither let any imagine that we here or elsewhere suppose or intend
to assert that human standards are intentionally set up in competition with
the Bible, much less in opposition to it. We fairly under stand and consider
them as human expedients, or as certain doctrinal declarations of the sense in
which the compilers understood the Scriptures, designed and em braced for
the purpose of promoting and securing that desirable unity and purity which
the Bible alone, with out those helps, would be insufficient to maintain
and secure. If this be not the sense of those that receive and hold them, for the
aforesaid purpose, we should bc glad to know what it is. It is, however, in this
very sense that we take them up when we complain of them, as not only
unsuccessful, but also as unhappy expedients, producing the very contrary
effects. And even suppose it were doubtful whether or not those helps have
produced divisions, one thing, at least, is certain, they have not been able to
prevent them; and now, that divisions do exist, it is as certain that they have
no fitness nor tendency to heal them, but the very contrary, as fact and
experience clearly demonstrate. What shall we do, then, to heal our divisions?
We must certainly take some other way than the present practice, if they ever
be healed; for it expressly says, they must and shall be perpetuated forever. Let
all the enemies of Christianity say Amen; but let all Christians continually say:
Forbid it, O Lord. May the good Lord subdue the corruptions and heal the
divisions of his people. Amen, and amen.
After all that has been said, some of our timid brethren may, possibly,
still object, and say: we fear that without the intervention of some definite
creed or formula, you will justly incur the censure of latitudinarianism; for
how otherwise detect and exclude Arians, Socinians, etc? To such we would
reply, that if to profess, inculcate, and practice neither more nor less, neither
anything else nor otherwise than the Divine word expressly declares
respecting the entire subject of faith and duty, and simply to rest in that, as
the expression of our faith and rule of our practice, will not amount to the
profession and practical exhibition of Arianism, Socinianism, etc., but merely
to one and the self-same thing, whatever it may be called, then is the ground
that we have taken, the principle that we advocate, in nowise chargeable with
latitudinarianism. Should it be still further objected that all these sects, and
many more, profess to receive the Bible, to believe it to be the word of God,
and, therefore, will readily profess to believe and practice whatever is
revealed and enjoined therein, and yet each will understand it his own way,
and of course practice accordingly; nevertheless, according to the plan
proposed, you receive them all. We would ask, then, do all these profess and
practice neither more nor less than what we read in the Bible--than what is
expressly revealed and enjoined therein? If so, they all profess and practice the
same thing, for the Bible exhibits but one and the self-same thing to all. Or, is
it their own inferences and opinions that they, in reality, profess and practice?
If so, then upon the ground that we have taken they stand rejected, as
condemned of themselves, for thus professing one thing when in fact and
reality they manifestly practice another. But perhaps you will say, that
although a uniformity in profession, and it may be in practice too, might thus
be produced, yet still it would amount to no more than a mere uniformity in
words, and in the external formalities of practice, while the persons thus
professing and practicing might each entertain his own sentiments, how
different soever these might be. Our reply is, if so, they could hurt nobody but
them selves. Besides, if persons thus united professed and practiced all the
same things, pray who could tell that they entertained different sentiments, or
even in justice suppose it, unless they gave some evident intimation of it?
which, if they did, would justly expose them to censure or to rejection, if they
repented not; seeing the offense, in this case, must amount to nothing less
than an express violation of the expressly revealed will of God--to a manifest
transgression of the express letter of the law; for we have declared, that except
in such a case, no man, in our judgment, has a right to judge, that is, to
condemn or reject his professing brother. Here, we presume, there is no
greater latitude assumed or allowed on either side than the law expressly
determines. But we would humbly ask, if a professed agreement in the terms
of any standard be not liable to the very same objection? If, for instance,
Arians, Socinians, Arminians, Calvinists, Antinomians, etc., might not
all subscribe the Westminster Confession, the Athanasian Creed, or the
doctrinal articles of the Church of England. If this be denied, we appeal to
historical facts; and, in the mean time, venture to assert that such things are
and have been done. Or, will any say, that a person might not with equal ease,
honesty, and consistency, be an Arian or a Socinian in his heart while
subscribing the Westminster Confession or the Athanasian Creed, as while
making his unqualified profession to believe everything that the Scriptures
declare concerning Christ? to put all that confidence in him, and to ascribe all
that glory, honor, thanksgiving, and praise to him, professed and ascribed to
him in the Divine word? If you say not, it follows, of undeniable consequence,
that the wisdom of men, in those compilations, has effected what the Divine
Wisdom either could not, would not, or did not do, in that all-perfect and
glorious revelation of his will, contained in the Holy Scriptures. Happy
emendation ! Blessed expedient ! Happy, in deed, for the Church that
Athanasius arose in the fourth century to perfect what the holy apostles
and prophets had left in such a rude and unfinished state. But if, after all, the
Divine Wisdom did not think proper to do anything more, or anything else
than is already done in the sacred oracles, to settle and deter mine those
important points, who can say that he determined such a thing should be done
afterward? Or has he anywhere given us any intimation of such an intention?
Let it here be carefully observed that the question before us is about
human standards designed to be subscribed, or otherwise solemnly
acknowledged, for the preservation of ecclesiastical unity and purity, and
therefore, of course, by no means applies to the many excellent performances,
for the Scriptural elucidation and defense of Divinely revealed truths and other
instructive purposes. These, we hope, according to their respective merit, we
as highly esteem, and as thank fully receive, as our brethren. But further, with
respect to unity of sentiment, even suppose it ever so desirable, it appears
highly questionable whether such a thing can at all be secured, by any
expedient whatsoever, especially if we consider that it necessarily presupposes
in so far a unity or sameness of understanding. Or, will any say, that from the
youth of seventeen to the man of fourscore--from the illiterate peasant, up
to the learned prelate--all the legitimate members of the Church entertain the
same sentiments under their respective formulas? If not, it is still but a mere
verbal agreement, a mere show of unity. They say an amen to the same forms
of speech, or of sound words, as they are called, without having, at the same
time, the same views of the subject; or, it may be, without any determinate
views of it at all. And, what is still worse, this profession is palmed upon the
world, as well as upon the too credulous professors themselves, for unity
of sentiment, for soundness in the faith; when in a thousand instances, they
have, properly speaking, no faith at all; that is to say, if faith necessarily
presupposes a true and satisfactory conviction of the Scriptural evidence and
certainty of the truth of the propositions we profess to believe. A cheap and
easy orthodoxy this, to which we may attain by committing to memory a
catechism, or professing our approbation of a formula, made ready to our
hand, which we may or may not have once read over; or even if we have, yet
may not have been able to read it so correctly and intelligently as to clearly
understand one single paragraph from beginning to end, much less to compare
it with, to search and try it by the holy Scriptures, to see if these things be so.
A cheap and easy orthodoxy this, indeed, to which a person may thus attain,
without so much as turning over a single leaf of his Bible, whereas Christ
knew no other way of leading us to the knowledge of himself, at least has
prescribed no other, but by searching the Scriptures, with reliance upon his
Holy Spirit. A person may, however, by this short and easy method, become
as orthodox as the apostle Paul (if such superficial professions, such mere
hearsay verbal repetitions can be called orthodoxy) without ever once
consulting the Bible, or so much as putting up a single petition for the Holy
Spirit to guide him into all truth, to open his understanding to know the
Scriptures; for, his form of sound words truly believed, if it happen to be
right, must, without more ado, infallibly secure his orthodoxy. Thrice happy
expedient! But is there no latitudinarianism in all this? Is not this taking a
latitude, in devising ways and means for accomplishing Divine and saving
purposes, which the Divine law has nowhere prescribed, for which the
Scriptures nowhere afford us either precept or precedent? Unless it can be
shown that making human standards to determine the doctrine, worship,
discipline, and government of the Church for the purpose of preserving her
unity and purity, and requiring an approbation of them as a term of
communion is a Scripture institution. Far be it from us, in the mean time, to
allege that the Church should not make every Scriptural exertion in her power
to pre serve her unity and purity; to teach and train up her members in the
knowledge of all divinely revealed truth; or to say that the evils above
complained of attach to all that are in the habit of using the aforesaid helps; or
that this wretched state of things, however general, necessarily proceeds from
the legitimate use of such; but rather and entirely from the abuse of them,
which is the very and only thing that we are all along opposing when we
allude to those subordinate standards. (An appellation this, by the by, which
appears to us highly paradoxical, if not utterly inconsistent, and full of
confusion.)
But, however this may be, we are by no means to be understood as at all
wishing to deprive our fellow-Christians of any necessary and possible
assistance to understand the Scriptures, or to come to a distinct and particular
knowledge of every truth they contain, for which purpose the Westminster
Confession and Catechisms may, with many other excellent performances,
prove eminently useful. But, having served ourselves of these, let our profiting
appear to all, by our manifest acquaintance with the Bible; by making our
profession of faith and obedience; by declaring its Divine dictates, in which
we acquiesce, as the subject-matter and rule of both; in our ability to take the
Scripture in its connection upon these subjects, so as to understand one part of
it by the assistance of another; and in manifesting our self-knowledge, our
knowledge of the way of salvation and of the mystery of the Christian life,
in the express light of Divine revelation, by a direct and immediate reference
to, and correct repetition of what it declares upon those subjects. We take it
for granted that no man either knows God, or himself, or the way of salvation,
but in so far as he has heard and under stood his voice upon those subjects, as
addressed to him in the Scriptures, and that, therefore, whatever he has heard
and learned of a saving nature, is