Primitive Christianity, the Apostacy and the Restoration
by
David King
London - 1856
By permission of the British Library - No. 3186de45
CONTENTS.
PART FIRST.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The New Institution and Covenant - the Metallic Image - the Stone cut out without hands - the Kingdom of Heaven - the Prophets - John the Baptist - the Kingdom at hand - the Kingdom come - the Keys of the Kingdom
THE KING AND THE THRONE. Birth - the Life - the Death - the Resurrection - the Ascension - the Throne of the Kingdom - the Throne of David - the Throne of God - the Throne of Messiah
THE LEGISLATURE. Legislation Once for all - Twelve Thrones - the Laws, where found - the Church's Duty
THE SUBJECTS. Legal Door of Entrance into every Kingdom - New Birth Necessary - the Entire Change consists of Four Particulars - Generation and Regeneration - Change of Heart and Change of State - Justification attributed to Several Causes - Positive Law the only Fit Test of Obedience - the Washing of Regeneration - Immersion of a Believer the only Proper Baptism - the Testimony of the Learned - Faith, Hope, and Love
THE KING'S TABLE. The Design of the Feast - Time for Partaking of the Feast - Not a Supper - "Administration of the Ordinance" - Breaking Bread from house to house
THE FELLOWSHIP. The Treasury - Pew Rents, Church Rates, &c. - Free-will Offerings every First Day of the Week - the Poor - the Gospel
MINISTRY. Clerisy - All Servants Ministers
Oversight Ministry; Bishops and Elders - their Duties, Qualifications, & Compensation,
Teaching Ministry; Ruling, Teaching, Exhorting - Mutual Instruction The Fellowship Ministry - Widows, Tables, Deacons
Widow Ministry - Elder Widows - "the Number" - Their Work - Age - Qualifications
Herald Ministry - the Disciples - the Evangelist - Now Requisite - Duties - OrdinationPART SECOND.
THE APOSTACY. The Metallic Image - the Stone - the Four Beasts - the Ten Horns and Little Horn - the Falling Away - the Mystery of Iniquity
THE MAN-CHILD. The Sign in Heaven - Woman - Another Sign, the Great Red Dragon - the Throne of God - War in heaven - the Dragon cast down - Rome Christian
THE MAN OF SIN. The beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns - the Crown upon the Horns - Forty and two Months - the Two-Horned Beast - its Number and Name - Lying Wonders - War with the Saints - Supremacy of the Church over the Nations - the Bible Prohibited - the Judgment shall sit
SECTS. Babylon - the Plain - Hairesis - Jewish Sects - Condemnable Sects - what the Sects are - Redeeming Feature
THE RESTORATION. The Saints - the Nations - the Old Paths - Reconstruction on Three Principles - What should be done - Names - Creeds - Christian Faith, Christian Morality, Christian Worship, Human Philosophy, and Human Tradition - the Confusion of Tongues - Examples of Restoration - the Dispensation in Ruin - Faith Lost in this Dispensation - Millennial Reign of Christ upon the Earth not promised
REIGN OF THE SAINTS, AND THE COMING OF THE LORD. REV. XX. Fall of the Dragon Power - Reign of the Saints - Souls of the Beheaded - the Coming of the Lord - Concomitant Events - Cause of Erroneous Conclusions - Short and Easy Method - the Resurrection - Destruction of the Wicked - New Earth and Heaven - Appeal to the Church - Appeal to Friendly Aliens
Primitive ChristianityPART THE FIRST.
CHAPTER I. - THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
"Wherefore, remember that you, formerly Gentiles in the flesh, (those called the uncircumcision, by them, called the circumcision in the flesh, made by hands,) were in the world, at that time, without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the institutions of promise; having no hope, and without God: but now, in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off, are brought nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished by his flesh the enmity, (the law of the commandments concerning ordinances) that he might make the two into one new man under himself, making peace: and might reconcile both to God, in one body, through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. And, having come, he brought good news of peace to you, the far off, - to us, the nigh: that, through him, we both have introduction to the Father by one Spirit. Now, then, you are no longer strangers and sojourners; but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the foundation corner stone; by which the whole building being fitly compacted together, rises into holy temple of the Lord, in which you also are building together, for a habitation of God by the Spirit." (Eph. ii. 11-22.)
In this section of Paul's letter to the congregation at Ephesus is set forth the Divine plan for combining Jew and Gentile under the headship of Jesus, in order that a holy nation, built upon the foundation of Prophets and Apostles, with Jesus Christ the chief corner stone, might grow up into a holy temple, a habitation of God through the Spirit. This grand design burdened the prophetic word. Contrasting the Christian Economy with the Jewish, the Apostles applied the language of Jeremiah, "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Heb. viii. 6-13.)
Various terms are used by the Apostles to designate this new covenant people, or, as we may say - the subjects of the new institution - such as "a peculiar people," "a royal priesthood," "the church of God," &c., &c. One word is however used, which, covering the whole ground, grasps the entire economy - the word Kingdom. God has instituted a Kingdom - appointed its King - marked out the character of its subjects, and called man to enter into that relationship - provided its legislature, through which he has fixed its laws - and mapped out its territory.
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Jehovah made known unto that monarch the world's future. In a dream he beheld a great image. "This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." (Dan. ii. 31-35.) Having thus stated the dream, Daniel advanced to the interpretation thereof - "Thou, O King, art a king of kings, for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold." (37, 38.) In other words the then existing Babylonish empire was represented by the golden head of the image. (See Jer. xxvii. 5.) Continuing his interpretation, the prophet observes:- "After thee (or it) shall arise another kingdom, inferior to thee" (the Medo-Persian empire, which rose on its ruins - represented by the silver part of the image." See 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20.) "And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule in all the earth," (the Grecian, which subdued the Persian and attained the power intimated. Dan. viii. 20.) "And the fourth kingdom" (the Roman empire, the legs of iron. Luke ii. 1.) "Shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things; and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken."
The most interesting object in this vision is "the stone cut out without hands, which smote the image upon the feet" and thus destroyed it, which the prophet explains thus, - "And in the days of these kings," (kingdoms. In the days of the Roman, the last of the four universal empires,) "shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure" (Dan. ii. 44, 45.) The prophets and the psalmist frequently and beautifully allude to the glories of this kingdom - but we need not stay to examine their allusions, after the definite statement just adduced.
The setting up of the promised Kingdom by the God of Heaven next invites attention. This event in the estimate of some, is past - others contend that the time for its establishment has not arrived - while most have not contemplated the new institution as a kingdom, and consequently confound "the Kingdom of Heaven" with Heaven, which are not one, for, as the kingdom of God is something pertaining to God, the "Kingdom of Heaven" is a kingdom pertaining to God and Heaven.
Labour is saved in this enquiry by the definiteness of the prophet. He not only declared that the God of Heaven would set up a kingdom, but clearly asserted its introduction during the period covered by the four monarchies. "In the days of these kingdoms" - the last being the Roman empire, which lost its power and standing, after those stirring scenes and conflicts connected with the life and death of the Redeemer. It therefore appears, that if not set up during or before the days of the Roman emperors, the prediction has been falsified, and no reason remains for expecting its accomplishment. The objection that the stone was to strike the image upon its toes, whereas the kingdoms represented by the toes (which came into existence on the breaking up of the Roman empire) still exist, is of no weight, inasmuch as the vision does not imply that the stone would strike the image, as soon as it was cut out, but, simply, that it would accomplish that result. The prophet presents the kingdom in two conditions - as the stone, and as the mountain. In the former, it has existed eighteen centuries - to the latter, it will attain and fill the whole earth.
The prophets of the old economy concluded their mission by the announcement - "Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts." "I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
Of John the Baptist, it is written, - "But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist" (Matt. xvii. 12, 13.) ** What then did ye go to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and something superior to a prophet, for this is he concerning whom it is written - Behold I will send my messenger before you who shall prepare your way." John's work and the Gospel or glad tidings proclaimed by him, are plainly set forth. "In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." The result was, that "all Judea were baptized of him," confessing their faith in his announcement of the kingdom's near approach.
The declaration that the kingdom was at hand must have implied two things important to our investigation, - First, that it had not been set up, and - Secondly, that the time for its introduction was near, "at hand," almost within reach - language utterly unmeaning, if those persons are correct who say, that though 1,800 years have rolled along since John proclaimed its near approach, it is yet future. The harbinger, having prepared the way, and introduced "the Lamb of God," was removed, and Jesus in person, or by his disciples, carried to every house the thrilling announcement, "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." Having engaged his disciples in this proclamation, "he said, heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, cast our devils; freely ye have received, freely give, provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your purses." Above eighty proclaimers were incessantly engaged in sounding forth this gospel - the immediate coming of the kingdom. During the Lord's entire ministry nothing fell from his lips that appeared to conflict with this proclamation, except in two or three instances only, when his words were capable of conveying the impression that the kingdom was then established. When men understood and received his unfoldings of its principles, they were said "to press into it," it had "overtaken them," or was "among them," - upon resisting and hindering others from believing, they were said to "shut the kingdom against men." Thus, by a synecdoche, which speaks of the whole, when a part only is intended, was the truth expressed, without for a moment disturbing the harmony of the momentous proclamation of that interesting period. We take it therefore to be satisfactorily established, that, during John's ministry, the kingdom was not opened, and, that the Redeemer could consistently exclaim, "Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he," and also, that during the life of Jesus it was only "at hand," but surely "at hand," or very near - hence he taught them to pray, "Thy kingdom come." When eating the last supper, it was still only near, for he said, "I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come."
In full agreement are the intimations concerning the Old Dispensation. "The law was added until the seed (Christ) should come." He was introduced to the Jews by John, and sustained the law until his complete rejection, when he declared their house left desolate, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain, signifying, that henceforth the Royal High Priest of the new kingdom should alone have authority, and that he would shortly enter the holy place of that kingdom which in a few days would stand open to every believing penitent.
It behoves us now to enquire whether after the Redeemer's resurrection and ascension the Kingdom was in the same almost invariable manner spoken of as at hand, or whether, before the Apostles had entered upon their duties in proclaiming the Gospel and instructing the gatherings of disciples, changes had taken place, rendering an alteration of expression requisite - an alteration so thorough that the kingdom was set forth as being in existence - as having been set up or opened, and Jesus and his brethren exhibited in the relation of king and subjects, with allusion to adjuncts constituting a kingdom.
Entering upon this enquiry, it appears that while John the Baptist had not entered the Kingdom, "the least in the Kingdom of Heaven being greater than he," John the Apostle, when on the island called Patmos, was a subject of that kingdom, and consequently it had by that time been set up. "I, John, who am also your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." (Rev. i. 9.)
In the communications to the seven congregations, Jesus no longer intimated that the Kingdom was not yet, but appeared holding "the key of David - shutting that no man can open, and opening that none can shut," - language fully implying kingly authority, consequent upon the working of God's mighty power, in having "set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all government and power, and might, and lordship, and every name that is named, but only in this world, but in that which is to come, and subjugated all things under his feet, and appointed him head over all things to the church, which is his body." (Eph. i. 20.) Consequently those who receive him, "are no longer strangers," but "fellow-citizens," the "household of God," and a "holy nation," and, though "now we see not yet all things put under him, we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour." (Heb. ii. 9.) "Angels, authorities, and powers being made subject unto him." (1 Peter iii. 22.) So that believers now "come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," or "Kingdom of heaven." Thus "receiving a kingdom," or as others translate it, "having received" it, we are exhorted to "gratitude and religious fear." (Heb. xii.) God having "delivered believers from the power of darkness, and translated them INTO the kingdom of his dear Son." (Col. i. 2.) Language which would have been totally unmeaning had the kingdom not been opened when Paul penned his letter to the Colossians. We therefore learn, that subsequently to the death of Jesus, but before the Epistles were written, the promised kingdom of God, of Christ, and of Heaven, was established and received - designated the kingdom of God, because he set it up (Dan. ii. 44,) and gave its constitution (Jer. xxi. 31,) - the kingdom of Christ, because it was given to him, as the heir of all things (Matt. xxviii. 18,) - and the kingdom of Heaven, because of its nature and relations.
In seeking the precise time at which the Kingdom was thrown open, and the building by those wise master-builders, (the apostles) of living stones into the heavenly structure commenced, the privilege granted by the Lord to Peter calls for attention. "When Jesus came into the coasts of Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. xvi. 13-19.) Peter's confession was the rock upon which the church should be erected. Peter himself was a stone in the heavenly building - honoured however with a distinctive work, in which no other should participate. "I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven," - the knowledge and power requisite to the first introduction of subjects - the first announcement of the conditions of salvation - the first proclamation of the glad tidings of the glorious reign, not only to the Jew but also to the Gentile. Shortly before his ascension, the Redeemer, declaring all authority in heaven and in earth to have been given unto him, commanded his Apostles, to make disciples or subjects from all nations, but to wait at Jerusalem until invested with power from on high, and then to commence in that city. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were baptized in the spirit, shed forth by Jesus, from the heavenly throne as his coronation gift. Then were the Jews pricked to the heart, they saw the kingdom taken from them - the nation "cut off" - the Messiah rejected, yet elevated to the throne of God, and justified by the Spirit. Then were the multitude in despair. The blood of Jesus was upon them. "What shall we do?" was their cry of anguish - a cry which no earthly or heavenly messenger save Peter was empowered to respond to. He held the keys of the Kingdom. The moment had arrived. A few sentences from his lips, and the Kingdom would be opened, that every believing and penitent Jew might press into the ark of safety. Those sentences were uttered, and Peter opened the gates to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, upon the conditions set forth therein - "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of your sins." (Acts ii. 38.) Three thousand subjects were then born into the Kingdom, and gloriously in the face of all opposition, did that rank of citizen-soldiers enlarge, as from place to place the banner of heaven's reign was unfurled.
It will be remembered however that for a considerable period the Jew only obeyed the Gospel - the Apostles not having discerned the merciful design of making the Gentiles fellow-heirs in this dispensation of love. "There was a certain man in Cesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do" (Acts x. 1-6). Peter at this time little understood the work committed to him, and would not have associated with Gentiles, certainly would not have authorised their reception into the church. On this account he was instructed by a heavenly vision, and prepared to open the Kingdom to believers of every nation. While he spoke to Cornelius, and those with him, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon the disciples at the beginning, "And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days." (Acts x. 45-48.) Thus were the keys used, the Kingdom opened, no more to be shut during the dispensation.
CHAPTER II. - THE KING AND THE THRONE.
LOOKING forward to, and placing himself as it were in the new and glorious, but then future age, when every trophy of war and violence should become fuel for the fire, Isaiah, with his usual sublimity exclaimed, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders - and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Father of the everlasting age, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice, from henceforth, even for ever." In relation to the same Royal Governor, the Prophet says, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he has set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law." It is also written, "The Lord cometh with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him" - "Behold, his reward is with him, and his whole work before him" - "I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion" - "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" - "Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool."
To identify this Lord of lords and mark the period of his enthronement is our present design. "Fear not, Mary, for you have found favour with God, and behold you shall conceive, and bear a son, whom you shall name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord will give him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign over the house of Israel for ever - his reign shall never end." *** "The Holy Spirit will descend upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore, the holy progeny shall be called the Son of God." The Harbinger of the reign of heaven having called attention to its immediate approach, introduced to the Jewish people their Messiah, and to humanity the to-be-enthroned Son of God and son of man. "Jesus, being baptized, no sooner arose out of the water, than the heavens opened to him, and the Spirit of God appeared, descending like a dove, and lighted upon him, while a voice from heaven proclaimed, This is my Son the beloved, in whom I delight." Entering at this time upon the work of selecting and instructing a little band, who, after his glorification, were to be seated on the legislative thrones of his kingdom, to fix and to announce its laws and ordinances, he conversed with one of them thus:- "Whom say ye that I, the Son of Man, am? Peter answering replied "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" Jesus replying, said, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven." Passing numerous confirmation events, manifestations of divine power, and cruel oppressions of self-loving rulers, we read that the assembly conducted him to Pilate, "and accused him, saying, We found this man perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, calling himself Messiah the King." Then Pilate asking him, said, "Art thou King of the Jews?" when Jesus answered, "You say right." ** "When they came to the place called Calvary, there they nailed him to a cross, and the malefactors also; one at his right hand, the other at his left. And Jesus said, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his garments by lot. While the people stood gazing, even their rulers joined them in ridiculing him, and saying, This man saved others: let him save himself, if he be the Messiah, the elect of God. The soldiers likewise mocked him, coming and offering vinegar, and saying, If you be the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was also an inscription over his head, in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, "This is the King of the Jews." ** "But the first day of the week they went by daybreak to the sepulchre, and found the stone rolled away, and the body of Jesus not there." While they were in perplexity on this account, behold two men stood by them in robes of dazzling brightness, and said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? he is not here, but is risen. Remember how be spoke to you before he left Galilee, saying, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinners, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." After manifesting himself during forty days, not openly, but to his disciples, and having commanded them to remain in Jerusalem till he should endow them with power from on high, "while they beheld, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, he is the King of Glory."
Having these and many other manifestations of the Messiah's person, and numerous intimations of his promised rule as the occupant of David's throne, we proceed in our search for information as to his glorification, or exaltation to the Throne of the Kingdom. David, king of Israel, reigned over the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, and established his throne in Jerusalem. Were it true that the fleshly Israel could now stand before God as his exclusively accepted people, a throne in Jerusalem would certainly be the seat of authority from which the rule over them would continue to be exercised. The Israel of God, however, are no longer the children of the flesh. Paul states it, "they are not all Israel who are of Israel - neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children." And "they which are the children of the flesh, are not the children of God;" "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart - in the Spirit, and not of the letter." "For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants, (Institutions) the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But, as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free." (Gal. iv. 22-31.) "For as many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The time has come when men may worship God, not in Jerusalem only, but everywhere in spirit and in truth; and such worshippers, from pole to pole, are the children of God. "Translated out of the kingdom of darkness into that of God's dear Son," they his subjects, he their king, the government is upon his shoulder, and all that David was to the Israel of old, Jesus is to the Israel of faith - he bears rule over his "holy nation," and in this particular is the antitype of David, and occupies his throne.
The Jews rejected Jesus' claim to be their Messiah, because they saw not an intention to establish a carnal kingdom. The Apostle Peter, filled with the newly bestowed Spirit, in his first sermon corrected this error and announced the exaltation of Jesus to the Throne of David. "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts ii. 29-36,) This did Peter, by referring to the event in the fulfilment of the prediction, explicitly teach that that prediction had just received its accomplishment, and that Messiah had, as his first exercise of regal authority, from the throne of David poured upon them the Holy Spirit. Paul, in contrasting the law and the gospel, wrote, "Now you are not come to a tangible mountain which burned with fire, and to blackness, and to darkness, and to the sound of a tempest, and to the voice of words. (The hearers thereof entreating that a word more might not be addressed to them, for they could not bear this threat, 'Even if a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned.' And so terrible was the appearance that Moses said, 'I exceedingly fear and tremble.') But you are come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of messengers, to the general assembly and congregation of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new institution, and the blood of sprinkling, which speaks better things than that of Abel. Take care that you refuse not him who speaks, for it they did not escape who refused him who spake on earth, much more we shall not escape who turn away from him that speaks from heaven: whose voice then shook the earth, but now he has promised, saying, 'Yet once I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens.' Now this speech, 'Yet once,' signifies the removing of the things, as of things which were constituted, that the things not shaken may remain. Wherefore, we having received a kingdom not shaken, let us have gratitude, by which we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and religious fear." The "once more" was not future when Paul penned these lines, but a quotation from Haggai, referring to the removal of the old dispensation. It was future when uttered by the prophet, but had been accomplished when cited by the apostle, and with the former text, fully sets forth that, as Christians, we have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and have a King upon David's throne to dispense richer blessings than ever flowed from his predecessor - a King, upon whose shoulder Isaiah predicted the government should be placed, and who is represented to John, as "he that hath THE KEY OF DAVID - he that opened and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." Language implying government, or kingly authority, as we learn from Isaiah's words in relation to the removal of Shebna, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so he shall open and none shall shut, and shut and none shall open." Thus Christ possessing the key of the house of David has the same ruling power in that house which the robe and key of Eliakim set forth. On this point the inspired application of the second Psalm is also conclusive. The enemies of God are prophetically spoken of in this Psalm as setting themselves in opposition to the Lord's Anointed, and the persecution of Jesus and the Apostles is claimed as the fulfilment of the prediction. The apostolic application sets forth Jesus as the anointed of God, seated upon his holy hill of Zion, and throne of David. The record reads - "And being dismissed, they came to their own company and related all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted up their voices with one accord to God and said, Lord, thou art the God who didst make heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them: who didst say, by the mouth of thy servant David, 'Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers combine together against the Lord and against his anointed.' For of a truth, against thy holy Son Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen and the people of Israel, have combined to do what thy hand and thy counsel had before marked out." In perfect accordance is the apostolic view of the 110th Psalm - "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool." Here Messiah is to sit at the right hand of the Father until his enemies are made his footstool, which the Apostle Paul defines as his reign. To the Hebrews he wrote, "This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." To the Corinthians he shows that the Redeemer now reigns, not over all, but in the midst of his enemies (Psalm 110), and will reign until his coming, when the dead shall be raised, and Messiah DELIVER UP the kingdom to the Father. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order - Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. Then the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. xv. 22-26.
The question, "When did Messiah begin to sway the sceptre of his kingdom?" may be answered thus - "When the Lord called him to his right hand, there to sit till he should make his enemies his footstool." In fact, what the Psalmist expresses by sitting at God's right hand, the Apostle designates reigning there - just giving the one term as equal to the other. Reigning not in another's right, but in his own - not on another's throne, but his own. The enemies to be put down are represented as his enemies, and as such are to be "put under his feet," or "made his footstool," which would be quite unnatural if the throne on which he was siting, and the kingdom over which he was set, were not strictly his own. In the Psalm, the Father engages to do it for him, while, from the Apostle's point of view, Christ is seen doing it for himself from his proper throne. The sense, however, is the same, for the power by which the thing is done, and the seat of authority from which it is done, are at once the Father's and the Son's. They are the Father's in respect of source and character, and they are the Mediator's in respect of possession and administration.
The faithfulness of God to David is manifest. The perpetuity of his seed to reign over Israel was promised, and just before the overthrow of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, the sins of Judah had filled their measure. Zedekiah was then on the throne of David, and the Lord said unto him by Ezekiel, "Thou profane wicked Prince of Israel, whose day is come, iniquity shall have an end. Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem and take off the crown; this (Zedekiah) shall not be the same (son of David promised.) Exalt him that is low, (Jesus) and abase him that is high (dethrone Zedekiah): I will overturn, overturn, overturn; it (the crown, or throne of David) shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it to him" (Ezekiel xxi. 26-7.) Zedekiah was cast down. Jerusalem became as a ploughed field. The people were carried into captivity. Jesus came unto his own people, and they received him not. God graciously constituted the believers in him the seed of Abraham, and he "whose right it is" has been exalted to the throne of David - to the seat of rule over the newly constituted seed - a Prince and a Saviour, to bestow repentance and remission of sins.
That the seat of the Redeemer's elevation should be at once the throne of God, of Jesus, and of David, is in no wise objectionable. It is the throne of GOD in respect of source and character - the throne of MESSIAH as respects possession and administration - the throne of DAVID, as the seat of rule over the Israel of God. - The one throne of the future is also exhibited in Revelation xxii. as the throne of God and the Lamb. Thus is Jesus Lord and King of earth and heaven. The Father no longer announces himself the Judge and King of the World. He declares that all authority, legislative, and executive, is committed to the Son as the head of the universe, and Judge of the living and the dead.
Glory, honour, praise, and power, be unto the Lamb forever.
CHAPTER III. - THE LEGISLATURE
THOUGH the Redeemer came to found a kingdom he did not introduce the laws by which it should be governed. For this important work he selected and qualified a faithful band. The announcement of the ordinances and discipline of his intended association of converted Jews and Gentiles was committed to those whom he selected, and whom the Father have him for that important work.
The laws of earthly kingdoms are mutable, ever requiring revision and alteration, seldom perfect when framed, and soon out-grown by society. Hence legislation is an oft-repeated work, and the short-sighted legislators of the last generation have their best performances re-modelled by the men of the present, whose work, in like manner, fails to meet the requirements of their children.
The works of God, like himself, are perfect. The solar system requires no re-adjustment. We may conceive of universal confusion by the removal of any part, but improvement none can suggest. Generation after generation, man rejoices in the same muscular, nervous, arterial, and respiratory systems - no re-arrangement has taken place from Adam till now, yet, after minute examinations, with all the aids of science, not a shade of improvement can be desired.
In a kingdom which, though upon earth, is not of earth, and which has God for its founder - in a remedial system designed to prepare man for immortality, to destroy the love and power of sin, and to infuse a new and divine nature - in a system from which the previous ages and states of the earth have been preparatory, can it be supposed, that infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, would give deficient legislation, and leave to uninspired men the formation or alteration of ordinances and laws relating to such stupendous results, and that too after man has demonstrated his utter incapacity to frame a government for a single state productive of holiness and happiness? Unquestionably not -
"'Twas great to speak a world from nought, but greater to redeem."
As such considerations would lead us to expect, the legislation of Messiah's Kingdom was perfected ere the heaven-appointed band were removed from the church. It was pictured forth by the Holy Spirit in perfect model associations, to be imitated through all time. It was recorded by the same Spirit, in imperishable documents, designed to constitute the only standard of appeal to the end of the world.
The voice from the excellent glory announced, "This is my beloved Son, hear ye him." That Son called, trained, and prepared by his examples and teaching the selected twelve, and just before the traitor-led throng hurried him away, he lifted up his voice to heaven and said, "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world," - having previously exclaimed, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration (renovation) when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt. xix. 28.) To Peter he exclaimed - "I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven." To his Apostles he also said, - "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them," and also, "As my Father sent me, even so send I you, he that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." Jesus being exalted to his glorious throne, poured out the Spirit as his coronation gift. Till the day of Pentecost - as he required, the Apostles remained inactive, but when endowed with the Spirit, they gave laws to the Israel of God. Three thousand sinners obeyed and became subject to the new reign. These were Jews, representatives of all the tribes. Many companies were subsequently added, and the Apostles upon their seats of judgment regulated the newly formed association and developed the laws of the kingdom as circumstances required. Thus their Apostleship being not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus the Christ and God the Father, they could do nothing against the truth but for the truth, speaking with the demonstration of the Spirit and in power, not in the words that man's wisdom teaches, but in words by the Holy Spirit. Thus they were enabled to say, "He that is of God heareth us - God beareth us witness both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts."
Under the former dispensation, the law was given in one short period. In the new and more glorious, the divine government was developed as circumstances rendered requisite. The laws of God delivered on the last principle, were, however, not less perfect and permanent. Perhaps, the main, or only difference is, that while the Jew can find his law compacted in a few pages, the Christian is called upon to regard not only the commands of the Apostles, but the approved examples of the churches. Were all, who call themselves by the name of Jesus, prepared to do this, then would "names and sects, and parties fall," for the Apostles taught the same things and established the same order in every congregation. Paul to the Corinthians, observes, "and so I ordain in all the churches" (1 Cor. vii. 17.) Of Timothy, he says, who shall bring you in remembrance of my ways, as I teach everywhere, in every church. The congregations planted in Judea were model congregations. Hence to the Thessalonians the same Apostles writes, "For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus."
It may be said, that if the Apostles legislated for the church as events rendered instruction necessary, why not now arrange, re-arrange, and adapt its discipline to the circumstances of each generation. The answer is, that their acts were never reversed, they did not arrange and re-arrange. When, for instance, they were called upon to decide relative to circumcision, and to eating of things strangled and blood, they did so once for all. What they made law then, is law now: they continued with the church till the completion of its legislation, and thus provided for future requirements. They affirm, in relation to their acts, that it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them. Their conclusions were binding upon the churches, and excommunication followed every case of disobedience, unless avoided by repentance and reformation. "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." (2 Thess. ii. 15.) Now, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." (2 Thess. iii. 6.) They have no successors. All subsequent claims to inspiration are worthless. They have finished their work, yet, being dead, they continue to rule. As Moses continued to be heard in the synagogue after his earthly career had terminated, they are now heard in every uncorrupt congregation, as the only propounders of the divine law. In view of such continued authority, Peter says, "The second epistle I now write unto you, in which I stir up your sincere mind to remembrance, to be mindful of the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the COMMANDMENTS OF US, THE APOSTLES of the Lord and Saviour," "that you may be able, after my decease to have these things always in remembrance." Thus, having perpetuated their laws and commands, recorded their sayings and doings, binding them upon the church, their thrones are not, and will not be, vacated till the Lord comes.
Miraculous attestation of their truthfulness and accuracy was secured to the church during the entire legislative period, that is during their sojourn on earth. This attestation was no longer required when the presentation of new truths ceased, and consequently, looking forward to a time when it should terminate, when they should know, even as they were known, the Apostles clearly announced the discontinuance of spiritual gifts. "And he gave, some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. iv. 11, 12, 14.)
These miraculously endowed brethren were then given, until the church should obtain the unity, or completeness of the faith, or system, that "we should not be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine," and freak of will-worship - which is precisely the condition of the sects, consequent upon their unauthorized legislation. With such convictions upon his mind, Paul could freely say, "Charity never faileth; but where there be prophecies they shall fail, whether there be tongues they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, (communicated by the Spirit,) it shall vanish away."
The importance of this position is perceived only by those who understand that, had it been duly regarded, the apostacy could not have taken place, Papal Rome never could have existed, and the union of Church and State must have remained impossible, and sects and sectaries have continued unknown. The Papal and other sects have been condemned for introducing bad laws in place of those appointed by the apostles, but to have introduced even the harmless, could such have been framed - to have added to the already perfect and inspired, would have been presumptuous sin.
After trial, under every variety of circumstance, man has shown himself unable to frame a system suitable to his condition. He has erected empires before which the world has been prostrated, yet they have dissolved from want of just government. Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome have dissolved, as nations are now dissolving from the same cause - proving that man, in his best state, is unable to govern himself, leading us to feel the need of a divine legislature, and warning us to flee for safety to Him, "Of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end."
Jesus, the head of the new dispensation, developed through his Apostles the principles of the divine government, and having all authority in heaven and in earth given unto him, the family of Adam are commanded to put themselves under his government. In every instance of deviation from the Jerusalem model, even by churches, fully sincere in their desires to bless humanity, failure has been the result - that is to say, inferior results only have been produced, and a sectarian and powerless church is the standing monument of folly surpassing that of the builders of Babel.
Let it be remembered that as the laws and ordinances of the Jewish Institution given on Sinai cannot be found in Genesis, so the statutes of the kingdom of Heaven are not discernible in the Jewish Records, in the Gospels, or in any record of events antecedent to the day of Pentecost, excepting only the preparatory information given by the Lord to his disciples while setting before them the principles of the coming reign. Let it also be remembered that as by the King's command, citizens were to be made in all nations, an aggregate gathering of subjects could not take place in this state, and consequently, the subjects of the kingdom are localized into congregations, each of which should be regulated, in regard to the reception, education, correction, and exclusion of members, by the Apostles, and that the first churches were set in order as models, and consequently that their approved acts became examples for all congregations, have the force of divine law, and together with the Apostolic commands, are sufficient to secure uniformity in faith and order.
It is then our duty to hear the Apostles - to regard their laws - to use their words - and thereby be enabled to say, "He that is of God heareth us." It is ours to reject all ordinances, bonds of union, creeds, and attempts to legislate for the church since the Apostles fell asleep in Jesus, that it may be said of us, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou cast not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them who say they are Apostles and are not, and hast found them liars."
CHAPTER IV. - THE SUBJECTS
INTO every kingdom there is a legal door of entrance. Under the Jewish economy the qualification was in the flesh and circumcision introduced the infant descendant of Abraham to all its immunities. In the kingdom of heaven, "the flesh profiteth nothing." A new birth is indispensable. The disposition of Abraham - the mind that was in Christ, only can avail. Even to the circumcised it was said, "Unless you be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven" - "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." All Messiah's subjects were formerly strangers and aliens - they have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. The kingdom, cast among kingdoms, was destined to draw its subjects from them, and ultimately to overthrow them. Accordingly, having all authority in heaven and earth, Jesus commissioned his heralds to disciple, by preaching the gospel and things of the kingdom, and baptizing believers into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. xxviii. 19.) To as many as believed on the name of Jesus was given power (the privilege) to become the sons of God (John i. 12) - to be born into the heavenly kingdom, not of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, from above, of water and the Spirit. It must be remembered, that as in nature, birth does not give life, but changes only the state, so the new birth - the birth from above - does not change the heart, but translates the previously re-begotten into the Kingdom of God's dear Son. The entire change effected by Christianity consists of four particulars - a change of views, a change of affections, a change of state, and a change of life. Accordingly the Apostles used terms to express this four-fold change. Contemplating the change of views it is said, "Once you were darkness, now you are light, in the Lord." - "After you were enlightened," &c. In regard to the change of affections we read - "Being reconciled we shall be saved," &c. The change of state is called "Passing from death to life" - "Being born again," &c. And the change of life is represented by "Becoming little children," "Living not unto ourselves," &c.
The commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved," is equivalent to the following, and all other words and phrases used to express in its several aspects the one great change - Begotten of God, repentance, born of water and the Spirit, conversion, pardon, justification, sanctification, &c. These are all realized when faith in the glad tidings of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God, has led the possessor of it to be immersed into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let it be remembered, that whatever terms the Apostles have used in writing of the change of mind, disposition, or heart, or of the change of state, they are all resolved into, and never mean more than faith and its effects - immersion and its consequents - that, as faith changes the heart, immersion changes the state - that, while faith qualifies for remission, immersion places the believer in possession of it. We may, however, condense this statement, and by expressing it in few words aid the enquirer:
I. There are requisite in the New Creation, as in Nature, the begetting and the birth - the one following, and not being identical with the other - the former changing the heart, and the later the relation in which the subject stands to God and his kingdom.
II. By the incorruptible seed of the word, a sinner is begotten of God. In other words - by believing the testimony which God has given of his Son, the heart is changed, a divine life is implanted.
III. The subjects of this life, are by a subsequent immersion, adopted into the family of God, translated into the kingdom of Heaven, introduced into the Church of Christ, "baptised into him," and "into the remission of sins."
To bring out these important conclusions more fully, let us view the inspired testimony in the following order:- CHANGE OF HEART Begotten of God CHANGE OF STATE Translated into the Kingdom
1. "With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness." Rom. x. 10. 1. Baptising them in (Greek into) the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matt. xxviii. 19
2. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. X. 17. 2. "Repent, and be baptised every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts ii. 38.
3. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born (begotten) of God. 1 John v. 1. 3. "Arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins." Acts xxii. 16.
4. "The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Rom. i. 16. 4. "So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death." Rom. vi. 3,4.
5. "The preaching of the cross is, to them that perish, foolishness; but, unto us which are saved, it is the power of God." 1 Cor. i. 18. 5. "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Gal. iii. 27.
6. "Ye have not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten with the washing of water by the you through the gospel." 1 Cor. i. 18. 6. "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." Eph. v. 26
7. "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." James i. 18. 7. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him." Col. ii. 12.
8. "Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet. i. 23. 8. "He saved us by the washing of regeneration." Titus iii. 5.
9. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John vi. 63. 9. "Baptism doth also save us." 1 Peter iii. 21.
10 "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them believe in his name." John i. 12. 10. "Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with (Greek bathed in) pure water." Heb. x. 22.
"He that believeth, and is baptised, shall be saved."
"Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."Thus we are instructed concerning the design of Christian Baptism, which, though often called a non-essential, is alluded to above one hundred times in the Apostolic writings, and set forth in language best suited to express its connection with pardon - not as a sign of forgiveness already received, but for, or in order to the reception of it. It is objected, that the blood of Christ having been shed for the remission of sins, baptism cannot be in order to remission. "Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sin" is the command of God. The blood of Christ was shed and baptism instituted for the remission of sins. As well might we deny that Christ's blood was shed for sinners, as to say that baptism is not for the remission of sin. His blood and baptism are both in order to remission - not, however, in the same sense. The love of God, the death of Christ, faith, repentance, baptism, good works, are all causes of salvation, and therefore, in order to it - yet no two of them are causes in precisely the same sense. We may say with Peter, "baptism doth also now save us," with Paul, "we are saved by grace," "justified by faith," "redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus," "sanctified by the Spirit of our God," and with James, that, "A man is justified by works, and not by faith only."
Justification, so far from being by faith alone, is attributed to several causes. "A man is justified by faith" (Rom. v. 1, .Gal. ii. 16) - "freely by grace" (Rom. iii. 24) - "by Christ's blood (Rom. v. 9) - "by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. vi. 11) - "by Christ" (Gal. ii. 17) - "by knowledge" (Isaiah liii. 11) - and "by works" (James ii. 21).
Who will take one of these as the saving cause, to the exclusion of the others? The wise will accept all, and find a moving cause, a meritorious cause, an instrumental cause, a disposing cause, and an immediate cause.
The oft-repeated objection, that God would not in any way connect the remission of sin with obedience to a command which has no inherent moral worth, is both feeble and absurd. Submission to the authority of God is demanded. He only has a right to rule, and positive law, arising from the will of the lawgiver, is the only fit test of obedience. The same scepticism might deny that Adam lost the approbation of God by disobeying a law, which in itself, had no connection with death. The law of Eden gave a proposition for belief, and a command for obedience. While the proposition was believed man obeyed. When God was no longer believed an act of disobedience ensued, and then, but not till then, was unbelief perfected. Man returns to God by a similar process. He has a proposition to believe ("Jesus is the Christ, &c.) and a command to obey ("be immersed"). Obedience being the fruit and evidence of faith, is regarded as consummating or making faith perfect. Let no one, therefore, imagine that any of God's positive institutions may be disregarded with impunity. It was the violation of a positive law that introduced death into the world, with the untold miseries and woes to which humanity is heir. Nadab and Abihu were destroyed for the violation of a positive law (Lev. x.) It was for tampering with a positive command, by substituting smiting with a rod for speaking, that Moses was prohibited from entering into the land of promise (Num. xx.) It was for disregarding a positive command that the prophet sent down to Bethel perished (1 Kings xiii.) The profanation of the positive institution of the Sabbath stood at the head of the catalogue of sins which God charged upon the Israelites, and for which they were driven away captive into Babylon (Neh. xiii. 17, 18; Ez. xx. 13-24; Jer. xvii. 27). For profaning the positive institution of the Lord's Supper, by converting it into a common feast, many of the Corinthian brethren were visited by disease and death. (1 Cor. xi. 30.)
Baptism being to the regenerate the washing of regeneration, it may be well to consider the action commanded. In these pages there appears no hesitation to use the word IMMERSION wherever in the authorized translation of Apostolic writings, we find baptism, and that, because the specific action instituted by the Saviour cannot be performed by either sprinkling or pouring. As the bath of water supplies the element out of which the reconciled are born into a new state, it must be remembered that we have to do, not merely with a birth, but with a new birth, and that the bath of water is at the same time a womb and a grave - a place of entombment and resurrection, in which the old name and relations are buried, and the new state, name, and relations risen into. To this effect the apostle addressed the Romans - "Buried BY baptism into his death, WHEREIN also ye have risen with him into newness of life." Water is the only element in which man could be buried and live, the only one fit to furnish a grave, wherein, having faith, he could be accounted dead with Christ, and from which he could arise to walk in newness of life. An action intended to set forth these realities could not be performed by sprinkling or pouring water upon the subject, unless, indeed, enough were poured to produce the effect of immersion, and then the appositeness would not be found in the action of pouring, but in the effect produced - that of covering with water. The truths and realities set forth by, and realized in baptism, require, therefore the immersion of the subject. Accordingly, John came baptizing in water, (the Greek being en, properly in, and not with), and hence we are informed that he baptized at Enon, "because there was much water there," a phrase used not less than five times. The Redeemer went up straightway out of the water (Matt. iii. 16).
The eunuch "came unto a certain water." "They went down, both Philip and the eunuch, into the water," ** and "came up out of the water" (Acts viii. 37-39). The inconceivable suffering of the Lord in the garden and on the cross, is designated a baptism, not to imply a sprinkling of sorrow, but an immersion or over-whelming. The uninstructed may be informed that the word baptism is not a translation of the Greek baptizo - that the root of baptizo is bapto, the primary and proper meaning of which is dip, and that colour, stain, and dye, are secondary meanings, because they denote effects produced by dipping or overwhelming - and that the Saviour, therefore used a proper and expressive word when he, selected baptizo to express the action for inducting a believer into his kingdom. Though the apostacy has changed this ordinance, and substituted sprinkling or pouring, no authority can be pleaded for the change higher than that advanced by Calvin, "the church did grant unto herself the liberty to change the rite somewhat." A liberty, however, the Greek church never permitted itself to use. For though corrupt in most other particulars, it has, to this day, declared immersion to be the only proper baptism. From a work of high value, [Christian Baptism, with its Antecedents and Consequents, by A. Campbell. Published by Hall, Paternoster Row, London.] which those who would possess an amount of information sufficient to settle the controversy on this question, would do well to obtain, we cite the following:-
Professor Stuart gives all the places where bapto is found in the Septuagint. "Bapto is found in Lev. iv. 6, ix. 9, xiv. 6, 51, xi. 32, translated dip and plunge. In Num. xix. 18, Deut. xxxiii. 24, Josh. iii. 15, Ruth ii. 14, 1 Sam. xiv. 27, 2 Kings viii. 15, Job ix. 31, Ps. lxviii. 23. In these passages it is, with the exception of once plunge, always dip; and amongst the plunged and dipped are vessels, mattresses, and persons."
"Bapto is used to indicate to smear or moisten by dipping," says Professor Stuart, "three times: Lev. iv. 17, xiv. 16, Ex. xii. 22. It once signifies to tinge or colour, Ezek. xxiii. 15 - tiarai baptai - coloured turbans - The text is, however, doubtful. It is found translated wet or moisten, twice, Dan. iv. 33, v. 21. "His body was moistened or wet with the dew of heaven." "Of nineteen occurrences of bapto in the Old Testament, it is once translated colour, twice wet, twice plunge, and fourteen times dip. The only question remaining is, How is baptizo translated in the New Testament?" "Bapto, with its compound embapto, is found six times in the New Testament; baptizo is found eighty times; baptismos four times; baptisma, twenty-two times; and baptistees, fourteen times - in all one hundred and twenty-six times. In the common version, bapto and embapto, are always translated dip; baptizo is twice translated wash; baptismos is three times translated washing; baptisma and baptistees are never translated, but transferred - the former into baptism, and the latter into baptist. They are never translated by any of the words sprinkle, pour, or purify."
Notwithstanding that the translation was made by persons who practised sprinkling, in no instance did they dare to hazard their reputation for learning by translating baptizo, by pour or sprinkle. Not only is this true of the translators of the common version, but not one of the ancients use a word indication of these actions, while all concur in selecting terms indicating immersion or dipping. Of thirty-six foreign, and many of them ancient versions, this is indisputably correct. Among them are Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Gothic, Latin, Persic, Egyptian, Slavonic, French, Spanish, Italian, and other translations - six of them in the second and third centuries, ten of them before the close of the ninth, and twenty afterwards all giving, as translations of baptizo, words equivalent to immerse in some seventeen versions, plunge in one, wash in one, cross in one, bathe in three, dip in six, but not once by any term signifying sprinkling or pouring.
Turning from these to the classical Greek writers, the same uniformity of expression is found in regard to the action represented by the word baptizo.
"LUCIAN, in Timon, the man-hater, makes him say - "If I should see any one floating toward me upon the rapid torrent, and he should, with outstretched hands, beseech me to assist him, I would thrust him from me, baptizing (baptizonta) him, until he would rise no more.
PLUTARCH, vol. x. p. 18. - Then plunging (baptizon) himself into the lake Copais.
STRABO, lib. 6, speaking of a lake near Agrigentum, says - Things that elsewhere cannot float, do not sink (baptizesthai). In lib. 12, of a certain river, he says - If one shoots an arrow into it, the force of the water resists it so much, that it will scarcely sink (baptizesthai).
POLYBIUS, vol. iii. p. 311, ult. applies the word to soldiers passing through water, immersed (baptizomenoi) up to the breast.
The sinner is represented by PORPHYRY, p. 282, as baptized (baptizetai) up to his head in Styx, a celebrated river in hell.
THEMISTIUS, Orat. iv. p. 133, as quoted by Dr. Gale, says - The pilot cannot tell but he may save one in the voyage that had better be drowned, (baptisai) sunk into the sea.
The Sybilline verse concerning the city of Athens, quoted by PLUTARCH in his life of Theseus, most exactly determines the meaning of baptizo. Askos baptizee dunai de toi ou themis esti:-
"Thou mayest be dipped, O bladder! but thou art not fated to sink."
JOSEPHUS, speaking of the murder of Aristobulus, by command of Herod, says - the boy was sent to Jericho by night, and there by command having been immersed (baptizomenos) in a pond by the Galatians, he perished. The same transaction is related in the Antiquities in these words - Pressing him down always, as he was swimming, and baptizing him as in sport, they did not give over till they entirely drowned him.
HOMER, Od. i. 392. - As when a smith dips or plunges (baptei) a hatchet or huge pole-axe into cold water, viz., to harden them.
ARISTOTLE, de Color, c. 4, says - By reason of heat and moisture the colours enter into the pores of things dipped into them (tou bapto menon). De Anima, iii. c. 12.
HERODOTUS, in Euterpe, speaking of an Egyptian who happens to touch a swine, says - "Going to the river (Nile), he dips himself (ebaphe cauton) with his clothes.
PLUTARCH. - Overwhelmed with debts (bebaptismeno).
CHRYSOSTOM. - Overwhelmed (baptismenos) with innumerable cares.
LUCIAN iii. page 81. - He is like one dizzy and baptized or sunk (bebaptismeno) - viz., into insensibility by drinking.
JUSTIN MARTYR. - Overwhelmed with sins (bebaptismenos)."
To render this brief compilation of authorities irresistable, the most exalted Pedo-baptists from, or before, the time of the Reformation, are added.
LUTHER. - Baptism is a Greek word, and may be translated immersion, as when we immerse something in water, that it may be wholly covered. And though it is almost wholly abolished (for they do not dip the whole children, but only pour a little water on them), they ought, nevertheless, to be wholly immersed, and then immediately drawn out, for that the etymology of the word seems to demand.
CALVIN. - The word baptizo signifies to immerse, and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient church. - Instit. b. iv. s. 15.
GROTIUS. - That this rite was wont to be performed by immersion, and not by perfusion, appears both by the propriety of the word, and the places chosen for its administration.
VITRINGA. - The act of baptizing is the immersion of believers in water.
SALMASIUS. - Baptism is immersion, and was administered in former times according to the force and meaning of the word. De Caesari Virorum, p.669.
HOSPINIANUS. - Christ commanded us to be baptized, by which it is certain immersion is signified. - Hist. Sacrum, 1. ii. c. i. 30.
ZANCHIUS. - The proper signification of baptize is to immerse, plunge under, to overwhelm in water.
ALSTEDIUS. - To baptize signifies only to immerse, not to wash, except by consequence.
GURTLERUS. - To baptize, among the Greeks, is undoubtedly to immerse, to dip - and baptism is immersion, dipping.
EWING, of Glasgow. - Baptizo, in its primary and radical sense, I cover with water.
LEIGH. - The native and proper signification of it (baptizo) is to dip into water, or to plunge under water.
BOSSUET. - To baptize signifies to plunge, as is granted by all the world.
BLOOMFIELD. - There is here (Rom. vi. 4) plainly a reference to the ancient mode of baptism by immersion. And I agree with Koppe and Rosenmuller, that there is reason to regret it should have been abandoned in most Christian churches, especially as it has so evident a reference to the mystic sense of baptism.
SCHOLTZ, on Matt. iii. 6. - Baptism consists in the immersion of the whole body in water.
BUTTMAN, in his larger grammar, simply puts down, "bapto, to immerse."
BP. REYNOLDS. - The Spirit, under the gospel, is compared - to water, and that not a little measure, to sprinkle or bedew, but to BAPTIZE the faithful in (Matt. iii. 11, Acts i. 5), and that not in a font or vessel, which grows less and less, but in a spring or living river.
LE CLERC. - He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit. As I plunge you in water, he shall plunge you, so to speak, in the Holy Spirit.
CASAUBON. - To baptize is to immerse - and in this sense the apostles are truly said to be baptized, for the house in which this was done was filled with the Holy Ghost, so that the apostles seemed to be plunged into it as into a pool.
GROTIUS. - To be baptized here, is not to be slightly sprinkled.
ABP. TILLOTSON. - It (the sound from heaven, Acts ii. 2) filled all the house. This is that which our Saviour calls baptizing with the Holy Ghost. So that they who sat in the house were, as it were, immersed in the Holy Ghost, as they who were buried with water were overwhelmed and covered all over with water, which is the proper notion of baptism.
H. DODWELL. - The words of our Saviour were made good, ye shall be baptized (plunged or covered) with the Holy Spirit, as John baptized with water. BISHOP NICHOLSON. - In the grave with Christ we went not, for our bodies were not, could not be buried with his - but in baptism, by a kind of analogy or resemblance, while our bodies are under the water, we may be said to be buried with him.
DODDRIDGE. - Buried with him in Baptism. It seems the part of candour to confess, that here is an allusion to the manner of baptizing, by immersion. JOHN WESLEY. - Buried with him - alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion.
WHITBY. - It being so expressly declared here, Rom vi. 4, and Col. ii. 12, that we are buried with Christ in baptism, by being buried under water, &c.
ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES. - If we have been planted together, &c. By this elegant similitude the apostle represents to us, that as a plant that is set in the earth lieth as dead and immoveable for a time, but after springs up and flourishes, so Christ's body lay dead for awhile in the grave, but sprung up and flourished in his resurrection, and we also, when we are baptized, are buried, as it were, in the water for a time, but after are raised up into newness of life.
BARNES. - Therefore we are buried, &c. It is altogether probable that the apostle in this place had allusion to the custom of baptizing by immersion.
LOCKE. - We did own some kind of death by being buried under the water, which, being buried with him, &c.
WALL. - As to the manner of baptism then generally used, the texts produced by every one that speaks of these matters, John iii. 23, Mark i. 5, Acts viii. 38, are undeniable proofs that the baptized person went ordinarily into the water, and sometimes the baptist too.
ABP. SECKER. - Burying, as it were, the person baptized in water, and raising him out again, without question, was anciently the more usual method.
SAMUEL CLARK. - We are buried with Christ by baptism, &c. In primitive times, the manner of baptizing was by immersion, or dipping the whole body into the water.
WELLS. - St. Paul here alludes to immersion, or dipping the whole body under water in baptism.
DR. CHALMERS. - The original meaning of the word baptisma, is immersion, and though we regard it as a point of indifferency, whether the ordinance no named be performed in this way, or by sprinkling, yet we doubt not that the prevalent style of the administration, in the apostles' days was by an actual SUBMERGING of the whole body under water.
BP. HOADLY. - If baptism had been then (in the first days) performed, as it is now among us, we should never have so much as heard of this form of expression, of dying and arising again, in this rite.
HERVEY. - Christ was even straightened under a kind of holy uneasiness, till the dreadful work was accomplished - till he was baptized with the baptism of his sufferings, bathed in blood, and plunged in death.
ABP. CRANMER. - The dipping in water doth betoken that the old Adam, with all his sins and evil lusts, ought to be drowned and killed by daily contrition and repentance.
Dr. Adam Clark, Burkitt, and a host of others might be added, but the foregoing are enough to convince every candid enquirer, that burial in water, and resurrection therefrom, is a divine ordinance, by which believers are translated into the kingdom of God's dear son.
Believers, thus constituted subjects of the kingdom enjoy all the privileges of citizens, and can only be excluded when disloyal to the King - when the New Life ceases to manifest itself. To the question, "Upon what conditions can immersed believers continue in fellowship with the Church of God?" the answer may be concise - "Attention to the commands and ordinances of God." As, however, ordinances are only the means to the end, and not the end itself, they require reminding that disciples are called to "shew forth the praises of him who has called them out of darkness into his marvellous light," and that an apostle says - "Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. ii. 5-8). Thus the subjects of the kingdom are addressed, not as soldiers who have gained the victory, but as those who are called to "put on the whole armour of God," in order to "be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand." They are required to have their loins girded with truth, their breasts plated with righteousness, their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. They are to take the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, praying without ceasing, and watching with all perseverance.
That the mind or spirit of Christ dwelling in each, is the condition of continued communion with the church, is thus stated - "But if any one have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, with respect to sin, but the Spirit is life with respect to righteousness. For, if the Spirit of Him, who raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he who raised up Christ from the dead, will make even your mortal bodies alive, through his Spirit which dwells in you. Well, then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Wherefore, if you live according to the flesh, you shall die, but if through the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. Because, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans viii. 10-14.) Continued association with the church certainly depends upon life, not upon immersion, not upon an ordinary amount of morality, not upon the absence of great sins - drunkenness, lying, fornication, and others, all of which exclude until repented of - but upon life. There are "great and precious promises, that by these they might be partakers of the divine nature, who have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
Some may say "life!" What is it? Who is to judge of its existence? Can man read the heart? When the spirit is alive "in respect to righteousness," there are present three manifestations. Not one of them can be absent, and where life is not, they cannot be present.
The Christian system at its introduction was rich in miraculous evidence, yet the time was to come (and long since has come) when those manifestations peculiar to the first days of the church, should pass away, and there should remain "FAITH, HOPE and LOVE" - these three - and they are life. Then the new life consists of faith, hope, and love. Faith is a conviction, hope a state of mind, and love a condition of the affections - all are internal, and who can judge? Each of these has its manifestations, and can no more exist without development, than fire without heat, or God without love.
Of FAITH, Paul writing to the Romans says, "I thank God that your faith is spoken of throughout all the world." And to the Colossians, "We give thanks to God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth." (Col. i. 3-6.) Coming still closer another of the Lord's Apostles asks, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." (James ii. 14-18.)
HOPE is not possessed of manifesting power less certain. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. v. 1-5.) Here hope stands as one of the causes of "glorying in tribulation," also of patience and confidence. John also writes, "Whoso has this hope purifies himself even as he (Jesus) is pure."
The manifestations of LOVE are everywhere known. Consecration to the Lord, to his truth, and to his brethren - and where these are not, profession is false, and the professor a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Where there is indifference to the advance of truth, disregard for the ordinances of the kingdom, neglect of assembling with the brethren, carelessness in relation to the salvation of sinners, and such characteristic, THERE IS NOT LIFE. Every branch in him that bringeth not forth fruit, should be taken away, idlers should be separated, and healthy and strict discipline should be enforced against all careless and ungodly professors.
These points established, it follows that the subjects of the Messiah's kingdom are not Jews, Gentiles, bond, free, male, female, minors, nor adults, as such, but new creations in Christ Jesus, begotten of the Spirit, born of water, born from above and of God. Not infants who cannot believe - not the careless who neglect to believe - not the hardened who refuse to believe - not an elect compelled to believe - not the apostate who have ceased to believe - and not nominal Christians who merely profess to believe. It follows that they are those in whose hearts and minds the law of God is written in living characters - who believe in, and obey the mediator of a better Institution than the past and fleshly, with which God found fault, saying, "I will make a new institution with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the institution that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my institution, and I regarded them not, says the Lord. For this is the institution that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: and they shall not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." (Heb. viii. 8-11). Thus are the subjects of Messiah's kingdom a company of renewed ones, who "with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord," and "are changed into the same image from glory to glory," and stand forth as the church which Jesus so loved, "that he gavehimself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing."
CHAPTER V.- THE KING'S TABLE.
"Jesus took bread and blessed and brake it, and gave it to them, and said, Take eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung an hymn they went out into the Mount of Olives." (Mark xiv. 22-26.)
"And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." (Acts ii. 42.)
In the King's House stands the King's table. He has provided a royal feast, for a royal people, who like those who had access to the table of shew-bread under the former institution, are by favour, a royal priesthood.
The royal feast is commemorative of the king's death, who, though he once died, now lives at the right hand of God. It was instituted as an aid to the continuous remembrance of him, and is never worthily partaken of unless his body is discerned. (1 Cor. xi. 29.)
The design of this feast is, however, to be regarded as realized only so far as the royal partakers are increasingly sanctified in body and spirit. Has this ordinance a sin-cleansing power? is a question often asked, and often difficult to answer, from want of clearness as to the meaning of those who present it. If it means - Does the remission of past sin stand so connected with it as to authorize the expectation that it becomes a passport to heaven for the dying? or - Whether the disciples of Jesus, after immersion, should observe it, in order to the remission of sins committed since immersion, or since last attending to it, as baptism is regarded in order to "wash away sin?" the answer is - Certainly not. The disciple having been buried by baptism into the death of Jesus is authorized to approach with confidence the throne of grace, assured that while walking in the light and confessing his sins, God is faithful and just to forgive him. Thus, at any hour, in any place, has he the promise of remission upon hearty and penitential confession. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) This verse, however, refers to more than forgiveness - forgiveness and cleansing not having in any sense reference to the same work - the latter item being also stated in the seventh verse. "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." For the children of God to obtain, upon confession, forgiveness of their omissions and transgressions, is to them no small boon. When, however, we consider the Saviour's desire to present them to himself, "a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing" - "that they should be holy and without blemish," "beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and changing into the same image from glory to glory," the destruction of the power of sin is seen as the desideratum. It is also the thing promised by John as a result of walking in the light and having fellowship with the Lord and his brethren. Continual confession of the same sin might the effect of a powerless gospel, or a false profession - but Jesus designs to save his people not in their sins, but from them - to cleanse them from all unrighteousness, and that too, by his precious blood. We are often told that the blood of Jesus washes away sin. The sinner is directed from rather than to the bath for the regenerate, assured that the blood will remove all his guilt - but, while we delight in the consideration, that faith, baptism, and the entire Christian system, flow to us, as consequents of that one offering, it must be denied that such language is warranted. Sinners are never directed to wash away their sin in the blood of the Redeemer. The cleansing power of that blood is spoken of in relation to the saints, the adopted children of God, those who have received, in the bath of water through faith, forgiveness of sins committed before their conversion. How the blood of Jesus effects the purification of the disciple, by destroying the power of sin, may next invite attention. The saints love their Saviour, and say from the heart,
"If all the world our Saviour knew,
Then all the world would love him too."They love him because he first loved them, and gave himself for them. Love, the effect of such a cause, fills the soul with gratitude, and subjugates the will to the loved one. Hence, the believer, while viewing by faith his Redeemer's agony in the garden, the thorny crown, and the accursed tree, commits no wilful sin. When he speaks or acts contrary to the Spirit, he has forgotten Calvary - he has ceased to consider the High Priest of his profession. When about to yield to temptation, by deviating from truth, uttering angry words, or doing evil for evil, were he to fix his mind upon that blood-besprinkled brow and bleeding side, he would raise the shield of faith, and with the spirit's sword shiver the dart of temptation, and conquer through him that loved us. As an adversary often defeated loses power, and a limb unused becomes paralyzed, sin continually resisted dies - the resister is purified and triumphs, and thus the blood of Christ cleanses from all unrighteousness. What an impression must have been left upon the minds of the disciples who wept around the cross and saw the dying agony! Could there be frequent reproduction of that scene, how might the thoughtless professor be led to weep, to love, to watch and live! This cannot be. But mark the wisdom of heaven - The Redeemer took a loaf, and blessed it, and divided it among his disciples, saying, "This is my body, broken for you," and also the cup, for which he also gave thanks, and of which he required them to drink, adding, "This is my blood of the new institution which is shed for many for the remission of sins." "This do in remembrance of me." We now see the design. The Romanist will have transubstantiation: he, by fixing attention upon the real presence, and encouraging the delusion of mysterious influence, leads the mind of the communicant from the cross. The intelligent believer, received the bread and the fruit of the vine as such, but at the same time constituted to him the body and blood of his risen Lord - so associated, that to look upon them is to re-behold his Saviour's death. To partake of this holy feast without such faith "is to partake unworthily." Therefore Paul wrote, "So, then, whosoever shall eat of this loaf and drink of this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and then let him eat of the loaf, and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself - not distinguishing the body of the Lord." They who discern the body of the Lord, eat the bread of heaven which was given for the life of the world. These considerations bring under notice the time consecrated to an institution thus important.
Concerning THE TIME FOR PARTAKING OF THIS ROYAL FEAST, the Saviour did not give instruction. "As often as ye drink of this cup," and "Do this in remembrance of me," fix not the time, but the object, and those of the congregation of Corinth who slept on account of unworthily partaking, erred not in regard to the period, but in not remembering him, in not discerning his body. The reader acquainted with the work of the apostles, understanding their elevation to the legislative seats of the kingdom, will be in no degree surprised that the time was left for them to announce, and will turn to the record of their acts, and be rewarded by learning, that the commemoration of the Lord's death is an instituted part of the worship of all Christian congregations, to be observed every first day of the week. The believers immersed upon the day of Pentecost, - "continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in the fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers" (Acts ii. 42.) As stedfast in the one as in the other - what in this model assembly was thus joined together we should in no wise put asunder. Not only did the first congregations attend to this institution every Lord's day, but they assembled for that purpose. It was the primary object for which they came together. That they did so is clearly stated by Luke. "And on the first day of the week, when the disciples met together to break bread." (Acts xx. 7.) From this intimation, two positions were apparent. First - That the principal object of assembling was, as just stated, the breaking of the loaf. Second - That for this purpose they met every first day. It was not a first day, but the first day. And thus we speak of all days periodically observed in commemoration of past events. We say THE 5th of November commemorates the Gunpowder Plot - certain churches assert THE 25th day of December is commemorative of the Redeemer's birth: meaning every 5th of November, and every 25th of December. It has been well observed, that other corroborating evidences of the stated meeting of the disciples on the first day for religious purposes are found in the fact, that Paul says he has given orders to all the congregations in Galatia, as well as to that in Corinth, to attend to the fellowship, or the laying up of contributions for the poor saints on the first day of every week. "On the first day of every week let each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as he may have prospered, putting it into the treasury, that when I come there may be no collections for the saints." Kata mian sabbaton, Macknight justly renders the first day of every week, in like manner kata polin may read every city, kata menan, every month, kata ecclesian, every church - and, therefore, in the same usage, kata mian sabbaton means, the first day of every week. Paul and the brethren not only assembled with the disciples at Troas on the first day to break the loaf, but they remained there some time in order to do so. The last clause of Acts xx. 6, may be correctly translated - "There we abode till the seventh day." Wherefore? Because the even of the seventh day (as we should say) was the commencement of their first day. In chapter xxi. verse 4, we may read, "And finding disciples, we tarried there till the seventh day," or till the close of the seventh day, in order to meet with them. Again xxviii. 14, "Where we found brethren who desired us to tarry till the seventh day." It is thus clear that the apostle and his fellow travellers remained at Troas, Tyre, Puteoli, or wherever they found brethren, in order to meet with them and break the loaf at the commencement of the first day of the week, and that so important was it deemed to meet with brethren for this purpose, that if they were at a certain town on the sixth, or even an earlier day, and could not reach another place that week where disciples were to be found, they would remain in order to be present at the weekly meeting. It is admitted that the instruction given to the church at Corinth, requiring the members to put their contributions into the treasury on the first day of the week proves the weekly assembling of the congregation. Bearing this in mind, we have only to notice the intimation, "When ye come together, therefore, in one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper." They were eating unworthily - one was hungry, another filled to repletion, and the mode of reproof fully implies, that the object for which they assembled was not in that state of division gained. As though Paul had said, you should and do come together with the intention of eating the Lord's supper, but your intention is not realized, you cannot eat it thus, and, speaking from the result, ye do not come together for the very purpose for which you ought, viz. to eat the Lord's supper. As at Troas, the Christians at Corinth assembled every first of the week to break the loaf, and as the apostles taught the same things in every congregation, what was done in these instances was done in all, which is the more established by the impossibility of producing from the New Testament any example of a Christian congregation assembling on the first day of the week, unless for the breaking of the loaf. Thus, in an important particular, is this royal ordinance placed on a footing with other heaven-appointed commemorative institutions. Not under any dispensation is there an instance of such an institution without a fixed time for its observance. Those in regard to Creation, the Passover, the Pentecost, and Circumcision, all have the time stated. It is therefore certain, both from the design of this ordinance, and from apostolic example, that every Lord's day, the one loaf and cup should appear in the Lord's house, upon the Lord's table, in order that the royal priesthood may participate in the commemorative feast of love - and it follows that the Lord's day is observed only by those who "keep the feast."
These conclusions might be supported by citing the early fathers, who testify during the first three centuries, that the congregations were uniform in so attending to this ordinance. Pliny, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and others, testify to the fact. The council at Antioch, A.D. 341, to check any neglect, decreed that, "all who came to the church and heard the Scriptures read, but afterward joined not in prayer, and receiving the Sacrament, should be cast out of the church." To these might be added the testimonies of Calvin, Milton, Wesley, Archbishop King, Dr. Mason, and a cloud of witnesses.
In modern congregations disputation has arisen concerning the most suitable hour. The first of the week - not the first moment, not the first hour - but the first day. Whether morn or noon, early or late, is left for circumstances to adjust. The first day, not the second, not the third, is the law. The first day by the arrangement of God commenced at the termination of the seventh, or Sabbath - that is, at sunset on our Saturday, ending at the same time on the Sunday. "The evening and the morning were the first day," consequently, though history records the assembling of congregations to break bread on the first day before day-break, there can be no impropriety in meeting for the same purpose late in the day, when unable to manifest love and zeal by an earlier gathering. In some instances churches have selected the evening of the Lord's day, the Sunday night, but in so doing have entirely departed from apostolic teaching and example, and really commemorate the Lord's death on the second day. For this there is as little sanction as for so doing upon the fourth or sixth. This unwarrantable practice has at times arisen from viewing the institution as a supper, and thus the plea that evening is the suitable time appears plausible, and as we have departed from the divine and Jewish mode of reckoning time and, without authority, made the first day to commence on Sunday morning and take in the whole of the following night, seven or eight hours after Meridian is considered quite appropriate. It is clearly indisputable - that as the Sunday evening (now called) is not part of the first day, but really the commencement of the second, if the institution is a supper, and was attended to as an evening meal, the now called Saturday evening was the time selected. [Proof might be presented that some of the early Christians did attend to it soon after the termination of the Jewish Sabbath, on the Saturday night, not because it was received as a supper, but to meet their circumstances, not being able to assemble after that time before the close of the first day.] But the idea of a supper is not in accordance with truth. The Redeemer did not institute it as a supper, but being with his disciples after supper, the last time he had to spend with them, he erected this standing monument of love. True, the apostle is represented as using the word supper when instructing the Church at Corinth, but the Greek deipnon is also used for a morning meal, [Homer uses it to denote a breakfast. Iliad 2, line 381-399, and line 53-66] for a dinner, and as a feast without reference to time. We prefer to say, therefore, "The Lord's Feast," as every plea for referring to it as a supper is removed. Let all congregations attend this feast of love every first day and manifest their desire for the banquet by providing it early in the day.
Two remaining questions invite attention. First, What have the Apostles taught concerning the administration of this ordinance? or, Can it be attended to in the absence of an ordained elder, or - in the language of some denominations - Without the presence of a Priest, Clergyman, or duly installed Minister?
God's people are his priests and his priests are his clergy. The word clergy comes from the Greek Cleros, which is by Peter applied to the whole church. Clerisy has no existence in the Christian system - clergies, with all their distinctions, titles, honours, and emoluments are of the apostacy. Each congregation, or any two or three disciples, on the first of the week, being too distant from the assembly, are called upon to break the loaf, and are accepted in so doing. The institution is all that it was intended to be. It receives nothing from the hand of man. Order, however, is a law of heaven, and as the members of a family or part of them, might partake of the family repast in the absence of the head of the family yet would not be in good order to disregard his rule and guidance when present, so every congregation should place itself under the rule of officers appointed by and from its members, and excepting only those occasions when they are unavoidably absent, all should be regulated by them. The congregation at Ephesus was without Elders of Bishops - Paul sent Timothy to set in order the things which were wanting, and to ordain elders, should he find men qualified. By this is seen - as also from other considerations, which cannot be now entered into - that disciples may, and ought to attend to the ordinances of the house of God, whether able to appoint elders or not, and that they are not justified in remaining without when able to appoint them. Elders are not therefore essential to the being, but to the well-being of a congregation. The remaining question is - Did not the Apostles set forth the breaking of the loaf as an every day practice, to be attended to from house to house as an ordinary meal, and is there not ground for the conclusion that it requires no other observance? Certainly not! For while Luke refers to breaking of bread from house to house, the ordinance commemorative of the Saviour's death is distinguished by the definite article being prefixed. It is not in the original breaking of bread, or to break bread, but the breaking of bread, or to break the bread, which, together with the fact that such was the primary purpose for which the Christian assemblies met on a stated day in every week, is proof to the contrary.
CHAPTER VI. - THE FELLOWSHIP
TO FURNISH the Lord's table, to feed orphans, support widows, and to send the gospel to the unreconciled, requires money. In a dispensation where love to God is estimated by love to man - not by words, but by deeds, we reasonably expect a treasury and well defined regulations for replenishing it. Since the Apostacy extravagantly wild have been the practices of numerous sects. Sometimes money is obtained by the sale of indulgencies and relics, at others by collecting at the bayonet's point state-levied imposts and by despoiling the widow of her goods or Bible to satisfy the collectors of church-rates. In other instances the houses consecrated for worship produce a handsome income by parcelling out sittings, and, as at theatres, regulating charges by the position and finish of the seat, putting behind the door, or in inferior places, the brethren of low degree. Though the Apostles preached the gospel, taking nothing from the Gentiles, many of the moderns use all available arts to loosen the purse-strings of the unconverted, and, by begging sermons and public collections shame them into giving - the infidel, meanwhile, confirmed by the selfish exhibition, charges upon Christianity a want of solidarity.
In the kingdom of heaven these unsightly vagaries have no place. The church replenishes its treasury not from the coffers of the world, but by its own weekly free-will offerings. Of the first Christians it is recorded, that "They continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, the fellowship, [Burkett, on this word and verse writes - "Mutual assistance which they gave and received, a communication of free distribution to the necessities of each other."] the breaking of the bread, and the prayers." (Acts ii. 42). Dr. Johnson defines fellowship by "Companionship, consort, equality, partnership, joint interest company, fitness and fondness for festal entertainments, with goods prefixed - that rule of proportion whereby we balance accounts depending between divers persons having put together a general stock." Walker, with other meanings, gives "Association, equality, partnership - an establishment in a college with share in its revenues." Koinonia, translated fellowship. belongs to a family of words which signify "to communicate," "to share," "to have in common," "to partake," also "community, fellowship, society, participation," all comporting with Koinos, its root, which signifies "common, belonging to more than one." King James's translators have rendered koinonia by fellowship, communion, communication, and often contribution and distribution, as in Romans xv. 26, and 2 Cor. ix. 13. It is, then, evident that "koinonia imports a joint participation in giving or receiving, and that a great deal depends on the selection of an English term, in any particular passage, to give a particular turn to the meaning of that passage. For instance, 'The right hand of contribution' would be a very uncouth and unintelligible phrase. 'The contribution of the Holy Spirit,' would not be 'much better.' Again, had they used the word contribution when the sense required, it would have greatly aided the English reader. For example - Acts ii. 42 'They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in the breaking of bread, in the contribution, and in prayers,' is quite as appropriate and intelligible, and there is no reason which would justify their rendering Rom. xv. 26, as they have done, that would not equally justify their having rendered Acts ii. 42, as we have done. In Rom. xv. the context obliged them to select the word contribution, and this is the reason why they should have chosen the same term in Acts ii. 42. The term fellowship is too vague in this passage, and, indeed, altogether improper - for the Jerusalem congregation had fellowship in the loaf, breaking bread, and in prayers, as well as in contributing - and as the historian contra-distinguishes the koinonia (or 'fellowship,' as they have it) from prayer and breaking bread, it is evident that he did not simply mean either communion or fellowship, as a distinct part of the Christian practice or of their social worship. Attending "stedfastly" or unremittingly to the breaking of bread, as shown in a former chapter, amounted to observing that ordinance every first of the week. The Lord's table being spread every Lord's day, the fellowship or contribution to the treasury of the church was also attended to as a stated part of the Christian worship. The writings of the apostles make no reference to any other method of obtaining the pecuniary means always required.
It has been shown that the apostles taught "the same things" in all the congregations, and that the Gentiles became "followers" or imitators of those who "were first in Christ Jesus in Judea." Consequently all the primitive congregations attended to the fellowship every first of the week. To the congregations in Galatia and Corinth Paul gave plain directions concerning the contribution. He stated its object, and as more fully seen in the translation by Dr. Macknight, implied the abiding character of the institution - "On the first day of every week let each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as he may have prospered, putting it into the treasury, that when I come there may be no collections." 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Here are noted the time, "every first day of the week" - the manner, laying something by itself, putting it into the treasury - the measure of the offering, "according as ye may have prospered - and the universality, "let each of you." Of the congregations in Macedonia, the apostle wrote, "For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us, with much entreaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints (i.e., the distribution of the fellowship). And further, "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work (as it is written, He hath dispersed abroad - he hath given to the poor - his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness) being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God, while by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men." We have already seen that the apostolic writings point to no other means for producing pecuniary supplies, therefore the entire expenditure of each congregation, whether for the Poor or the Gospel, should be furnished by its fellowship [The right of individual members to distribute of their substance in other ways is not here spoken of, the expenditure of the congregation, as such, only being referred to] - all pecuniary assistance to needing members being included under the one, and all expenses for meeting-places, printing, travelling, and sustaining proclaimers, as arising from giving publicity to those glad tidings which are the power of God unto salvation, under the other.
The poor have the primary claim. Thinking to make converts by supporting preachers, while the destitute are unprovided for is a vice of the apostacy. One object of the fellowship is to make known the gospel, and it is well thus applied whenever the needing of the flock are not neglected. That the fellowship of the congregations was for the spread of the gospel may be inferred from the testimony of the apostle John, in his epistle to the elder Gaius - "Beloved, you do faithfully what you perform for the brethren and for strangers. These have borne testimony to your love in the presence of the congregations, whom, if you help forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well. Because (mark this), for his name's sake, they went forth receiving nothing from the Gentiles. We ought, therefore, to entertain such that we may be joint labourers in the truth." Paul also received support from congregations - "Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man, for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied, and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself." This use of fellowship is intimated in the Epistle to the Philippians, obscured by the common version, but plainly given by Dr. Macknight. "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in all my prayers for you all, giving thanks with joy for your contribution for the gospel, from the first day till now, having this very confidence, that he who has begun a good work among you, will continue to perfect it till the day of Jesus Christ. As it is just for me to think this concerning you all, because you have me at heart, both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel. You are all partakers of my gratitude." Koinonia is in this text translated contribution.
Thus the congregations of the Lord by attending to a divine institution met all requirements and produced even from unbelievers the exclamation, "See how these Christians love!" After the removal of the apostles the fellowship was not the first thing to yield to the corrupting influence of those who "thought to change times and laws." When a descriptive apology was addressed by Justin Martyr to the Emperor of Rome this institution was deemed too important to be left unmentioned. He wrote "On Sunday all Christians in the city or country meet together, because this is the day of our Lord's resurrection, and then we read the writings of the prophets and apostles. This being done, the president makes an oration to the assembly, to exhort them to imitate, and do the things they have heard. Then we all join in prayer, and after that we celebrate the Supper. Then they that are able and willing, give what they think fit, and what is thus collected is laid up in the hands of the president, who distributes it to orphans and widows, and other Christians as their wants require."
Let us then say that "Pure religion, and undefiled, with God, even the Father, is this - to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep one's self unspotted from the world." James i. 27. "To do good, and to communicate (koinonia), forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Heb. xiii. 16.
CHAPTER VII. - MINISTRY
WITH the word Ministry, clerisy in all its grades, starts into view - Popes, Cardinals, Diocesan Bishops, Priests, Deacons clad in white, and men of plain black without official robes, each belonging to an order deemed essential to the proper administration of Christian Ordinances and the due performance of Divine Worship. The first stones of this priestly superstructure are laid deep in antiquity. But an examination of the one and only "foundation of apostles and prophets" will show that they have no place upon the rock of truth.
With many Protestant sects, ministers are clerical officers, one of whom rules, teaches, exhorts, and "administers the Sacraments" in each congregation. The apostles, however, recognized no such office, and when in their writings the reverse seems to be implied, we may suspect the clerical bias of the translators. "MINISTRY" is, in most instances, a tran