apostolic day, was, in their estimation uncalled for. They supposed
the canon of scripture was sufficiently full, when the prophet Malachi
finished his testimony, and closed up the age of miracles! Men may
sincerely believe the Bible, as many of the sects do believe it,
without having it revealed from heaven that the Bible is true, and it
will never save them. They may believe the Bible even without knowing
God; for the simple reason, that no man can know God without God
reveals himself to him. This was the condition of the Judaic church.
Many of them sincerely believed the Mosaic writings, but detested and
rejected the principle of immediate revelation, by which alone they
could know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he had sent. If
they had believed heartily in the doctrine of immediate revelation to
all believers, in all ages, they would have known Jesus Christ to be
the Messiah, as well as Moses, or Abraham, who saw his day, and was
glad. On the same principle, dear sir. Christian denominations, in this
day, believe the apostolic scriptures sincerely, and do many things
accordingly; but rejecting the principle of immediate revelation to
them-ward, they neither know Jesus Christ nor his prophet Joseph, nor
the power of God, as it is revealed from faith to faith in our day.
We, sir, contend for the faith of miracles in our own day; but you and
your associates contend against it. The disciples of Jesus contended
for it, in their day; but the professed followers of Moses and Abraham
contended against it. Now, sir, to which of these sides do you belong?
Can you find that any people, who ever contended against the faith of
immediate revelation and miracles, such as was maintained by Samuel,
Abraham, Barak, Daniel, and Noah, ever prospered. Is there a single
instance in scripture, from Genesis to Revelations, where God manifests
any fellowship for any faith short of a faith of miracles and immediate
revelation? If an inferior kind of faith has been got up since the New
Testament age, is it not well to inquire from whence it has sprung, and
what is the scriptural basis of its support? If such an inferior faith
is not _revealed_ from heaven, it must certainly be from beneath, and,
consequently earthly, and sensual, and devilish. If it springs from
the precepts of men, and not from the direct and positive revelation
of God, it ought surely to be abandoned and forsaken at once. When
men believe the Old and New Testament scriptures from tradition, and
the lips of a ministry that is not sent out and called by immediate
revelation from heaven, their faith is dead; and all such as float in
this broad stream of traditionary faith, are not and cannot be built up
as lively stones to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God.
Hence, sir, the concession of Mr. C. G. Finney, and Nettleton, and of
your own Mr. Knapp, all great Revivalists, and talented and devout
men, that the "sectarian churches need to be converted over again."
And I am constrained to add, without any inviduous feelings, that such
teachers themselves need to be converted from a traditionary faith into
the same faith with the ancient worthies spoken of in the eleventh
chapter to the Hebrews. They themselves cannot _know_ God without that
same ancient faith that secured to its possessors revelation from God,
and the power of working miracles, &c. God has never called men to
testify to the truth of the Old and New Testament, unless the truth
has been revealed to them _personally_ from the heavens. When it is
thus revealed, they will obey like the ancient saints, and the power of
godliness will follow their faith, "even healing the sick, casting out
devils, and speaking with new tongues."
You, sir, will surely admit, that the faith of the ancients was
far superior to modern traditionary faith, and was attended with
a power which this latter faith cannot, in its very nature, ever
attain to. By the ancient faith, or faith of immediate revelation,
men wrought righteousness, subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of
lions, and quenched the violence of fire--stayed the sun in the
firmament--sealed up the heavens as brass for the space of three years
and a half, or opened the windows thereof for the rain to descend in
showers or torrents, even to a universal deluge. Surely it will be
no disparagement to such exalted names as yours, and that of my old
acquaintance President Barnas Sears, and my former instructor President
E. Knott, to turn, like Paul, to the banner and standard of such a
faith. By such a faith they are prepared to work the works of God; and
either in time or eternity, to work even far greater works than Jesus
ever wrought on the earth, as his own word declares; for, sir, this
kind of faith shall abide beyond the veil; for God himself made the
world by faith, and the spirits of the just work by faith, and obtain
revelation from God, and minister the same to militant believers on
earth, from the faith of the sanctified in light, to the faith of the
militant here below. "The righteousness of God is revealed from faith
to faith." Surely we may count all things but loss for the excellency
of the _knowledge_ of Christ Jesus our Lord; for he that gets the
knowledge of Christ by revelation to himself, and keeps it, shall never
fall.
Do you not preach, sir, the ancient faith spoken of in the eleventh
chapter of Hebrews, for modern believers to imitate? Or is the
miraculous faith of the ancients to be pourtrayed to men in this day,
only as a beautiful picture to be admired by spectators, and not copied
and imitated as a doctrine of modern practice? If there is such a thing
as _common_ faith, in distinction from the supernatural and miraculous
faith, named in the eleventh of Hebrews, what part of the scriptures
teach it? Please to name the chapter and verse; and when you have
pointed out to me the specific scriptures that teach a faith inferior
to that of prophecying or working miracles, &c., please to tell me
wherein lies the power of such a faith? If it cannot reveal any thing
to the children of men, how can it increase the sum of knowledge with
any reasonable prospect of filling the earth with knowledge, as the
waters cover the bed of the great deep? If it cannot forecast events
beyond the mere common prescience of human minds, how can the wise man
foresee the evil in time to hide himself? Is it not passing strange,
sir, that from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham, and from
Abraham to David, and from David to Malachi, and from John the Baptist
to John the Revelator, the miraculous faith should be tenaciously
and rigorously contended for; while since that day, men, professing
godliness, not only contend for an inferior faith, but contend against
the antiquated faith that was sustained for more than four thousand
years, giving to God a great and glorious name for all his wonderful
works and mighty deeds.
Why do the modern clergy commend the faith that put to flight the
armies of the aliens--quenched the violence of fire--and staggered
not at promises that required supernatural agency to fulfil, if we
are not to imitate and practice such faith? Why so much time and
labour exhausted in order to define and extol a faith that belonged
exclusively to past ages; and if the scriptures speak of no other
faith that is pleasing to God, would it not be better that mankind
be informed more explicitly what is the nature and effect of that
common and inferior faith of which the Bible illustrations are so
inapplicable? Seeing that the Bible illustrations of faith pertain to
examples of a supernatural order, will you please to give us those that
are of a natural and common order, suited to our age, that is, and,
of a right, ought to be free from supernatural and miraculous deeds,
signs, wonders, and prophecyings? In so doing, and publishing the same
through your widely-circulated paper, you may rest assured that it
shall have prompt insertion in the STAR, and greatly oblige.
Your humble and obedient servant,
ORSON SPENCER.
LETTER IV.
ON WATER BAPTISM.
_Liverpool, June_ 14, 1847.
Reverend and Dear Sir,--You, sir, need no argument to convince you that
WATER BAPTISM is the first ordinance, after faith and repentance, that
initiates the believer into the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is to be established upon the earth, according to
the pattern of the heavenly order, which is the first principle taught
in the memorable prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, which prayer will be
pertinent to all believers on earth, until the object of the prayer is
fully achieved and the kingdoms of this world have universally become
the kingdom of God. And if we were to search the kingdom of God from
one end to the other, and from side to side, we should not find a
single adult believer in the whole heaven, who had not been _baptized_
with water.
Do you ask why I make such a bold declaration, and how I know this
seemingly exclusive and uncharitable truth? I know it, sir, by the
voice of God from the heavens, and this voice is to you as well as me,
if you will receive it. Do not you believe the scripture that saith,
"except a man be born of the WATER and of the spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God?" I know that you believe this scripture, and
am persuaded that your ingenuous mind will not seek to pervert it from
its plain and obvious import.
Whatever an over-jealous mind may fear concerning the state of the
penitent thief on the cross, and of devout and upright men that have
lived and died in every age of the world, still let God's word be
accounted true, and every man that gainsays it be esteemed a liar!
No man ever puts on the uniform of Christ's followers, such as is
worn by subjects of the kingdom of Christ, until he is "baptized into
Christ" for "_remission of sins_." Hereby he "puts on Christ," When
an ambassador of Christ finds a man or woman that heartily repents
of his or her rebellion against the laws of Christ, he baptizes him
unto repentance for "remission of sins." By the ordinance of baptism,
the rebellious subject virtually says, I hereby signify to all men my
repentance; and the lawful administrator as virtually says, on the part
of Jesus Christ, whose Ambassador I am, (being called by revelation,
and being authorized to act in his name and for him), I pronounce this
person's sins _remitted_, according to his genuine repentance and faith
in Christ.
Now, sir, what objection can there be for a man sent from God to remit
sins by baptism, in the name and by the authority of the King of
heaven? If Christ has power on earth to forgive and remit sins, may He
not send forgiveness and remission by another, even by whom he will?
And will not such a remission and forgiveness of sins be as valid as
though He administered the ordinance of baptism himself? Undoubtedly
it will be indisputably valid. And what ordinance is so beautifully
significant as that which expresses both the penitence of the subject
and the cordial acceptance of the Ruler and Lord?
Has not Jesus Christ a right to remit sins by baptism unto repentance?
Who shall say that the penitent believer's sins are not remitted by
baptism? Who shall lay any sins to his charge? Is it not God that
justifies? Has not Christ died? Has he not a right to say who are fit
subjects for baptism? Has he not a right to say by what ordinance sins
shall be remitted? He has never said that repentance and faith shall
secure remission of sins to any one without baptism. It is not in the
power of any man or angel to find a license in the Bible to receive a
person into the kingdom of God without baptism. Jesus Christ has never
given any license, but, on the other hand. He has explicitly said, in
the most unequivocal language possible, that NO MAN can "enter the
kingdom" without water baptism, or being "born of the water."
Do you ask, if I call baptism a saving ordinance? I reply, that
repentance and faith will not save any body in the kingdom of God
without baptism. Some men, whose crimes are unpardonable in this
world, may, and doubtless do, repent and believe; but they cannot be
baptized for the remission of sins, nor forgiven "until the times of
refreshing come from the presence of the Lord in the restitution of all
things." Righteous Noah was "_saved_ by water;" and the apostle Peter,
rehearsing the fact, says that baptism _saved_ believers in his day in
_like_ manner.
You, sir, must be perfectly aware that Jesus Christ has said, by the
mouth of his servant John, that BAPTISM constitutes no less importance
of character than one of the THREE GREAT WITNESESS of adoption and
citizenship into the kingdom of God on the earth--the SPIRIT, the
WATER, and the BLOOD. These three bear witness on the earth and agree
in one. One of these THREE performs the double office of bearing
witness on the earth, and also of bearing record in heaven. Three
witnesses appear to be requisite in order to prove our title good
to a place in the kingdom of God; and the testimony of these THREE,
and nothing less, is recorded in heaven by the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Who will dare to say that the THREE in heaven will accept of the
testimony of the two witnesses on earth, when God has explicitly said
that he requires the testimony of THREE, and nothing less?
Do we forget that all men are to be judged out of the books? And
if the books show the absence of one WITNESS, and the consequent
_disagreement_ of the three before named, can that person that is thus
deficient of testimony, stand acquitted from the books out of which he
is judged? By no means! The THREE witnesses will agree in one; and when
they agree, the Spirit will bear the testimony of the Water and the
Blood to the recording angel, and these united with his own seal, will
be placed on record until the books are brought forward for judging the
nations of the earth.
Furthermore, no man can ever be born of the Spirit until he has first
been born of the water. The Holy Ghost will never condescend to become
the covenant-guide and instructor, and holy comforter of any one,
until he has been baptized or born of water. Have ye received the Holy
Ghost _since_ ye were baptized? Peter told penitent believers that
they might receive the Holy Ghost _after_ they were baptized; so said
John the Baptist to those he baptized. If, in a single instance, the
Holy Ghost was given before baptism, still it was no part of Christ's
instructions to his apostles ever to confer the Holy Ghost until
_after_ baptism--and then it was to be done by the laying on of hands.
Men may receive a measure of the Spirit of God before baptism (even
as a child has in embryo the germ of life before parturition); but no
one has a large measure of the Spirit, nor has any covenant claim to
the Spirit, or, in other words, can be born of the Spirit, until he
has been baptized in water. "Jesus came by water," and was baptized
in water for the remission of the original sin of the world. He knew
that baptism for remission of sin was necessary as an example, and also
that by his "_obedience_ many might be made _righteous_" even as by the
"_offence_ of one, many were made _sinners_." Jesus needed not only the
testimony of water-baptism, but also, _after_ baptism, the testimony
of the other witness--the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was a personage
inferior in office to himself, but still the Holy Ghost was conferred
upon him, while coming out of the water, in "the form of a dove."
The third witness to adoption is the "Cup of Blessing, or Sacramental
Cup of Wine," which, if men "drink not, they have no life in them."
Now, sir, let us abide strictly by the "law and the testimony," even
as Jesus our pattern has done, and consider nothing unessential which
our lawgiver has both enjoined and exemplified for obedience and
salvation. Who is prepared to say that the faithful will not take the
cup of blessing, even in the heavens, and drink wine in our heavenly
Father's kingdom? Who can say that the river of life that proceeds
from the throne of God in the celestial city, shall not be employed to
perpetuate the remembrance of baptismal water of adoption, and even
perpetuate sinless purity, like the leaves of healing that grow on the
banks of the crystal stream?
Is it a thing incredible with you, sir, that God should remit sins
through baptism? It is with difficulty that I can persuade myself that
you are so distrustful of the power or wisdom of God! You read and
expound the scriptures from Sabbath to Sabbath. You certainly believe
that Naaman's leprosy was washed away by water-baptism in Jordan; you
also must believe that men were healed of mortal diseases, by simply
looking at a brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness. Do you not
believe that the walls of Jericho fell down under the simple blast of
the rams' horns? and that the simple touch of the hem of a garment,
or of handkerchiefs, was attended with healing virtue to them that
believed?
Why were the learned and devout Judaic churches surprised that Peter
should proclaim to thousands--"be baptized for the _remission_ of your
sins?" and, on another occasion, even _command_ Cornelius, as pious and
devout a believer as yourself, to be baptized in order that he might
be "_saved_"--telling the churches in a general circular epistle, that
baptism would _save_ them as much as water _saved_ Noah? Why should
those same churches withdraw fellowship from Paul because he believed
Annanias, saying to him, "arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins," even as your church have disfellowshipped me, because I believe
as Paul did, and obey the same gospel which he preached, with all its
miraculous gifts, blessings, and priesthood? The secret and solution of
the whole surprise of the Judaic and modern churches are, that _both_
overlook the efficacious _simplicity_ of Christ's ordinances, and know
not the "power of God," by which a mere look, touch, baptismal rite, or
the imposition of a hand, may secure blessings rich as heaven--power as
great as Gabriel's--knowledge as high as the throne of God--and life
and felicity as endless as eternity!
Greatly blessed, sir, is that man commissioned immediately from the
heavens to administer baptism unto repentance for _remission_ of sins;
and blessed are they who receive remission of sins from the hands of
those who act in "Christ's stead." Hence the grateful acknowledgements
of David, repeated by Paul--"Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered." Men who obey the gospel are as well
satisfied that their sins are forgiven through baptism, as you, sir,
would be satisfied of the validity and legality of a deed, signed and
sealed by his excellency the chief magistrate of your State. They
rejoice in the same, without ambiguity or fear of being deceived. The
spirit of bondage and fear (which is in sectarian churches) does no
longer wither up their hope, and blight the joy of their acceptance
with God.
The heavens, that before seem clouded with dismal forebodings and
doubtful omens, that kept the excellent Dr. Payson even, on a
tumultuous sea of mental storms and calms, is now clear and tranquil
all the day and all the year. They rejoice in the Lord ever more;
and they know of a truth, that by keeping the commandments of
God, their peace is like the gentle and ever-onward current of a
river. Driven from "city to city, and from one nation to another
people;" and "every where spoken against," belied, robbed, and
arraigned before "magistrates" for thefts, treason, blasphemy, &c.,
they are distressed indeed, but not with mental doubts and fears.
No; far from it; they are borne down with expulsion from place to
place--burning their houses--despoiling their goods under shadow of
legal prosecution--whippings--priestly and editorial calumnies! These
things, sir, distress their bodies, and cause cold, and nakedness, and
hunger, and an uncertain dwelling place; but do not by any means impair
their peace in believing, or their joy in the Holy Ghost. None of these
things move them.
Yours,
ORSON SPENCER.
LETTER V.
THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST.
_Liverpool, June_ 29, 1842.
Reverend and Dear Sir,--The subject of my fifth letter is one of
surpassing importance. It is, sir, the "GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST," by the
laying on of hands.
The magnitude of the subject warrants me to say, in few words, what
belongs to it, without those copious scripture references which you
can look after at your leisure. If you will honestly listen to my
description of the office-work of the Holy Ghost, you will clearly
perceive, that, since the time Jesus left the earth, it is more
extensive and important than even the work of the other personages of
the Godhead.
The Holy Ghost performs the double office of a WITNESS on earth and a
RECORDER in heaven. Being an unembodied personage, he can move among
men without the danger of being mobbed and killed, as was not the case
with Jesus Christ. He takes up the work of man's redemption, just where
Jesus Christ left it, and has a distinct part to act until the second
coming of Christ, that in due time He also may obtain glory with the
Father, even as Jesus does--yea, a fulness of the Godhead by himself.
According to promise he came on the day of Pentecost, either with a
retinue of sanctified spirits, or in the simple unity and grandeur of
his own potent agency, and filled the house. He then disbursed among
the disciples a variety of tongues--gifts for men which the Conqueror
had promised. With the keys of revelation, peculiar to his office, he
unlocked their understanding (with perfect impunity to himself) and
bore witness that Jesus was Christ. His testimony not only confirmed
the disciples, who had been previously baptized, beyond the shadow of
all further doubt, but convinced some thousands of the sin of unbelief.
He immediately informed Peter, to whom Christ had promised to send the
keys of the presidency over the church by the Holy Ghost (for he could
do nothing till the Holy Ghost should bring them), that He, the Holy
Ghost, would ever be an attendant upon penitent believers that should
be "baptized for remission of sins," whenever his minister should lay
on hands. He authorized him to make a solemn standing PROMISE to this
effect, viz.: that the Holy Ghost's presence as a WITNESS to truth,
should invariably follow the imposition of hands. But he also gave
him to understand, that none should lay on hands or preach but such
as should be called by revelation, even as was Aaron. He assured him
that he would henceforth abide with the church, and enable obedient
believers to work certain miraculous signs, such as healing the sick,
casting out devils, nullifying the properties of poison wickedly
administered, and speaking with new tongues--and these and other
confirmations of the truth should invariably attend the true church
to the end of the world, or as long as true believers continued on
the earth; and if these miraculous signs did not follow believers,
they might know that they were rejected of God, as reprobate silver is
rejected of men.
The Holy Ghost further informed him, that He was the LIVING WITNESS
on earth, in connexion with the WATER and the BLOOD, and sealed up
the testimony of all the witnesses concerning all believers on earth,
and then took them to heaven and recorded them in the BOOKS, by the
mutual agreement of the Father and the Son, against a time of awards
and punishments. He also informed him that he always obtained a perfect
knowledge of Jesus Christ's mind touching all church transactions
on earth, and faithfully communicated the same to chosen men and
believers, according to their capacity to receive and use such
knowledge; and should continue to act in this Office of enlightening
and comforting the church, "until they all come to the unity of the
faith and the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," which
he possessed before he left the earth. And he would also communicate
Christ's mind concerning the destinies of nations, and the judgments,
famines, and pestilences, &c., with which Jesus Christ would visit the
earth.