There can be no apology for a man who knows what the truth is, what the
doctrine of Christ is, what christianity is, who will use it merely
as a proof to sustain, prove, and impose something else upon himself
and others, for he might just as easily have received the truth, the
doctrine of Christ, christianity itself, enjoyed it, and been saved
by it, as to have trifled with it, in trying to prove something else
by it. But if a man does not know what the truth is, the doctrine
of Christ, christianity is, and adopts something else, he is simply
guessing at it, and is not to be relied upon. He has no foundation.
We are as well convinced, as we are that there is a glorious heaven
for the righteous, and a hell for the wicked, that no man now living,
who knows what the Lord’s truth is, what the gospel of Christ is, what
christianity is, and what the Bible is, and has appealed to it to
sustain something else, and now continues so to appeal to it, could, if
his life were at stake, give a good reason why he did not receive the
truth itself, the gospel, christianity, the Bible itself, rely upon it
as his only hope for life, his only guide, as the only divine system,
the only divine institution, in the place of perverting its glorious
influence and power to sustain and prop up something else. And we are
equally certain, that no man can answer to God, when the actions of all
men shall be spread out in the last judgment, for such a course. If
christianity is a system, if it is a divine institution, if it is the
religion of Jesus Christ, if it is from God, and now binding upon the
human family, as almost all the religious parties of these times admit,
and as can not be denied, the sin of departing from it is great enough;
but to have the assurance to try to make it sanction any other system,
to testify in support of any other, to try to divert its influence,
power, and authority from its own work, to sustain and prop up some
human system not mentioned in it, when it has expressly, under the
most fearful and awful penalty, forbidden any perversion, addition, or
subtraction, is a species of daring and aggression upon the institution
of heaven and government of God, such as one would suppose no believer
in the Bible would risk. Still it is done—almost daily done, in the
pulpits all over the land; and those who will not do it, who condemn
it, who receive the Bible, christianity, the gospel, the religion
of Jesus Christ, all that God has revealed to man—all that has the
name of God upon it, keep it distinct from every thing else, and will
have nothing more, are opposed everywhere, sneered at and branded as
_heretics_. Be it so. We look not to man for reward. We look not to
sectarian parties to honor God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible,
christianity, or the gospel. We do not expect them, as parties, to come
to the Bible, unless to draw support for their own schemes. But we
regard not this; we know we are right; and it is not the great number
that will stand, but those who are right. “Truth is mighty above all
things, and will prevail.” Brethren, push on the war, on this great
question. The Bible will prevail in the end. Its enemies will all fail.