Why do men regret to hear us say of a man, “He is a gospel man;” “He
is a sound man;” “He is a New Testament man.” It implies that there
are some that are not “gospel men,” not “sound,” not “New Testament
men.” What if it does? Why need any man be troubled about that? Certain
men will be suspected of being unsound! Indeed! Must we shut our eyes
and think contrary to what we know to be matter of fact, that all are
sound? But, you imply that some are not sound! Certainly, and you imply
that some are not honest, when you put a lock on your stable, crib or
smoke-house, lock and bolt your doors at night, and when you will not
trust all men alike. When you say, “I will trust him, his word is as
good as his note,” you imply that some other man is not good—that his
word is not as good as his note.
But we tell you of A, B, C, D and E, that we have trusted, and they
have all paid, and we believe all are alike honest, and will pay.
If you are a business man, you will reply, “Yes, and I have trusted
many more than that, all of whom paid, but I have trusted a long list
that did not pay, and you need not preach to me that all will pay.”
So referring to a few men who, on a few occasions preached the gospel
faithfully, does not prove that _all do this_, or even that _these few_
always do it.
That we have the men now who are making it a constant and prayerful
effort to reproduce the gospel and all its fruits; to reproduce
the Church and all its blessings to man; to maintain all things as
delivered to us by Christ and his apostles, we rejoice to know. That
we have another class of men, who have no heart in this, and have even
repudiated the idea, we entertain not a doubt. Those determined to
reproduce the gospel of Christ and all its fruits, the Church, and all
its blessings to man, introduce no innovations; nothing new and foreign
to destroy the peace of the children of God, and are the cause of no
dissensions and no divisions. Those standing off are not from among
them. They will stand with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with
the things of God as set forth in Scripture. We stop not to count the
number, whether great or small, nor to consider whether they shall be
popular or unpopular, rich or poor. The only question is, are they of
God? Does God require that the gospel of his grace, as given by his Son
and the apostles, shall be reproduced? Does he require that the church
shall be reproduced? We maintain that he requires that the gospel, in
all its entirety and completeness, shall be reproduced, and we shall be
satisfied with nothing short of it. He requires that the Church, in
its entirety and completeness, shall be reproduced. These are matters
settled with us. The man whose heart is not in this work, and who aims
not at it, is not one with us, nor in sympathy with us.