"1. God has a church on earth. It is one and indivisible. It is
made up of all and singular who are born of the Spirit.
"2. Individual (local) churches, or congregations, are as
Scriptural as they are necessary.
"3. There is not one word in the Bible favorable to denominations
or sects. The only sect among Christians that is spoken of in
terms--the Nicolaitan--is severely condemned. There are indications
of sectish belief, against which John is supposed to labor in the
first chapter of his Gospel, and Paul withstood in the Judaizing
tendencies, even in a brother apostle. Denominations are directly
or indirectly the result of sin remaining in the great body of
professors. Thorough and wide-spread holiness would soon destroy
denominations.
"4. But the evangelical denominations of today contain the mass
of true Christians, with a multitude of mere professors. Because
of differences sects can not yet be abolished; and an effort at
abolition would result in a new one. Therefore sects are a present
necessity, until holiness more generally prevails.
"5. The possessor of perfect love of necessity overleaps
denominations in spirit, and so regards all the sanctified as
perfectly his brethren."
We are personally acquainted with the editor of the Harvester, and
believe him a holy man of God. We admire the frankness with which
he acknowledges that "there is not one word in the Bible favorable
to denominations or sects," and that "denominations are directly
or indirectly the result of sin remaining in the great body of
professors."
Such must be the honest verdict of every intelligent, God-fearing
man. It is no pleasant thing, we know, to look upon and admit this
monster evil, this fell destroyer of the purity, love, and power
of the Lord's Zion. Says Wm. Starr, "My heart has groaned as, pen
in hand, I have looked at this subject, arranged my thoughts to
present them to you." But for the love of truth I am constrained
to differ with the position that sects are a present necessity.
They originated from sin in the church; and shall we admit that the
fruit of sin is a necessity under any circumstances? "Shall we do
evil that good may come? God forbid." Where the cause--sin in the
church--is removed by full salvation, should not its effects also
disappear? But it is thought that "because of differences sects
can not yet be abolished." We might say, with equal propriety,
because of sects differences can not be removed. They coexist and
mutually support each other. These divergent views, and party
shibboleths, may have had their root in carnality, but they are
stereotyped and perpetuated by sectarian parties and their man-made
creeds. Therefore we have no more right to palliate the sin of
sects because of differences, than to excuse the latter because
of the former. One of the great evils of sectarian divisions is,
they prevent the return of the church to the "faith once delivered
to the saints"; and shall we let the baneful tree stand until it
ceases to bear its legitimate fruit?
Again, it is thought that "sects are a necessity until holiness
more generally prevails." "Thorough and wide-spread holiness would
soon destroy denominations." Sects and holiness are antagonistic to
each other. This truth is clearly implied in the above remarks. The
fire of true holiness burns up all the fences that Satan has placed
between the saints. And shall we defeat this its real mission, by
not lifting up the sword of the Lord against sects, and attempt
to abolish the evil, until holiness prevails more extensively?
That is the same as saying that we should make no attack on
unholiness until holiness gains a certain degree of ascendancy.
Yea, it provides that we should give place to the devil in the
church to destroy holiness, until the church becomes more holy.
These are no trifling words. It is a solemn fact that adherence in
different denominations is the devil's wedge, whereby the unity of
the Spirit, so perfectly procured in the grace of prefect love,
is again destroyed. Party names, party creeds, and party spirits
almost of necessity go together; and the natural return of this
spirit, because of membership in a fragmentary church, takes more
souls off of God's altar than do everything else together.
Let sects alone until holiness prevails! What a device of the
enemy! How can we expect to bring forth permanent fruits into
holiness, if we allow the plowshare of God's truth to slip over
this fallow ground of sin? Sects are the devil's "high places" in
the land, the groves of his own planting, and gods that he has set
up to corrupt Israel, and "provoke God." How many of the kings
Jehovah complains of because they did not, like Josiah, "purge
Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves" (2 Chron.
34:3)! Beware that we partake not of their sins. Of Azariah it is
said that "he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord
... save that the high places were not removed.... And the Lord
smote the king [Azariah] so that he was a leper unto the day of his
death" (2 Kings 15:3-5).
Says W. H. Starr (a conscientious Presbyterian minister) after
quoting 1 Cor. 1:10-13 in his Discourses on Sectarianism: "It would
seem as if no man could read these words of the great apostle
without vividly seeing that party divisions among the people of
Christ were, in his view, a most astounding evil. 'Is Christ
divided,' he says, that ye who are all his, and who have been
'baptized by one Spirit' should be sundered one from the other by
party names?
"And he adjures them in the most solemn manner, he beseeches them
by an appeal the most sacred that words could utter, even by the
name of Christ, as it were for his sake, and for his bleeding
cause, to forsake these pernicious ways, and to be perfectly joined
together in the same mind."
Hear what this author thinks of promoting holiness over these "high
places," or sect walls.
"The divisions of the Christian church, as they now exist, are a
prominent cause of the low state of piety among believers; the
greatest single obstacle which now exists to the spread and triumph
of our religion in the world." "The moment you separate the church
of Christ into distinct divisions, you set up the idol of party.
Success or adversity will no longer affect the mind simply as
they touch the cause of Christ, but they will be felt, also, as
affecting 'our side' or 'our church.' It is not Christ and his
cause to which their whole thoughts and desires are now turned; the
idol of party has now been set up, and it claims, and receives,
part of their regard. The man, I think, is almost more than human
that can wholly avoid this influence, at least after he has been
long identified with any branch of the church. It is an influence
which is all the time at work. The idol has been set up to divide
the heart from the blessed Savior and his holy service; and its
influence is as ceaseless as the existence of the cause. And this
party feeling is, as we have seen, the essence of all sin, so that
sinful desire is blended continually in the heart with its love to
Christ, and pollutes the worship which it offers him."
This is an honest and faithful description of this monster evil.
The party feeling is very sin. Yea, says this God-fearing man,
"It casts a millstone round the neck of those who are struggling
upwards to the image of their Redeemer. It mingles poison with the
streams of salvation that flow to the soul through the church, and
casts a blight upon its budding fruit."
Again, "Sectarianism is the greatest foe to the exhibition of love
which God has ever suffered Satan to beget. It hinders brotherly
love among Christians, and regard for the souls of men. It is
vain for brethren in Christ to talk about the duty of loving one
another, and to try to feel love for one another, while they refuse
to act as love dictates [by separating into parties]. Their actions
will control their hearts, as men's acts always do in the end. The
fences which they set up between them in fact will become fences in
=feeling=. And that is now even so, every Christian knows.... The
divisions of Christ's people beget and stimulate continually that
opposite spirit of rivalry and contention, which is the spirit of
the world.... Yes, I charge all this mischief, the existence of
which you all know, upon the sectarian divisions of the people of
Christ; and let him deny it who can. It is in fact their legitimate
fruit."
The division of the church into parties not only destroys the
power and holiness thereof, but is the greatest impediment to
the conversion of the world to God. Again we will hear Brother
Starr, and the blessed Redeemer himself. "Would that the church of
Christ might pause long enough from its sectarian strife to hear
the voice of its Redeemer and Lord pleading with God in prayer
on that sorrowful night ere the traitor came--'Holy Father, keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, =that they
may be one=, as we are.... Neither pray I for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me.' The prayers of Christ were not offered for a
light matter, least of all that memorable petition which the pen of
inspiration has recorded for the church in all ages to wonder and
weep over, the prayer of its dying Lord. The desirableness of that
visible union of his people for which Christ prayed as the means of
impressing his truth on the world, and the evils of those divisions
against which the apostle so earnestly exhorts, need to be better
understood by the church.... May God grant you a disposition to
look the evil fairly in the face."
Oh, the thousands of souls that are being lost to all eternity
through the selfish, wicked, and carnal spirit of our churchism!
God is dishonored, yea, robbed of the purchase of his Son's death,
and infidelity stalks abroad; the result of a divided house.
It is said that "the possessor of perfect love of necessity
overleaps denominations in spirit." Does not this love prove that
they are in the way of the Spirit of Christ? And shall we compel
the Lord to drag his children together over these cursed walls,
only to have walls rise up again, and grieve away the Holy Spirit?
If it be true that "thorough holiness destroys denominations,"
then it follows that where they yet exist this genuine degree of
holiness has not been attained by the people. But I have not quoted
correctly: it is "thorough and wide-spread holiness." Ah! here is
the sticking-point--a condition put in by the enemy of souls. It
implies the following: "Though entire sanctification removes all
sectarianism out of my heart, I will still adhere to my sect until
people generally abandon their schismatic parties and creeds." The
devil is perfectly easy over these principles. Now, if this evil
is to be done away by popular sentiment, then it is not through
holiness; but if by the latter it does not depend upon any foreign
influence. The condition of the church in one State does not rob
the Word and Spirit of God of their virtue in another. The power
of holiness to destroy denominations in one community does not
depend in the least upon another. Judah can burn down his groves
and destroy his idols, whether Samaria and Ephraim do it or not.
Therefore, we repeat, where the professed followers of Christ
are divided into a plurality of sects, they have not yet become
thoroughly sanctified to God.
Can it be said of professors of holiness that they have "one heart"
and "one mind," while some have a mind to be Presbyterian, others
Baptists, others United Brethren, and others have a mind to adhere
to the several different sects of Methodism? Have they "one heart
and one way" when they rise from the solemn altar in the holiness
meeting and go, each one in his own way, to the synagog of his own
sect?
Now, I must confess that I can not see the necessity of this,
unless it be to please the devil, break the unity of the Spirit and
grieve away the heavenly Dove, bring to naught the divided house
of the Lord, and destroy the work of holiness as fast as it can be
built up; to this end alone it is necessary.
But let us come still closer home. I would lay the responsibility
of this enormous evil just where God places it and all other sin.
We shall not be judged by sects, States, nor even by neighborhoods
and towns, but "every one of us shall give account of himself to
God."
A revival of holiness in a community is the result of personal
consecration and faith; and its relapse will be in proportion
to the number of individuals that remove the sacrifice from the
sanctifying altar. There is no such thing as thorough holiness,
except as wrought by the Sanctifier in individual hearts; and
if, as has been said, and as I verily believe, thorough and
widespread holiness destroys denominations--burns up sectarian
distinctions--it must do it in your heart as an individual. And if
this work is done, the fruits must exhibit the fact; you will be
'saved by the precious blood of Christ from all vain conversation,
received by tradition from your fathers'; such as "Your church,"
"Our church," "Our preacher opened the doors of the church," "What
branch of the church do you belong to?" "You ought to join some
branch," "and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound
doctrine"--that grew out of a "perversion of the right ways of
the Lord" and the gospel of Christ (Acts 13:10; Gal. 1:7). If the
bitter root of sectism is entirely destroyed out of your heart,
you will ignore all sectional lines and party fences, the dreadful
curse of which Brother Starr has so honestly pointed out. If you
are a true, intelligent Bible Christian, a holy, God-fearing man,
you must cast off every human yoke, withdraw fellowship from and
renounce every schismatic and humanly constituted party in the
professed body of Christ. Instead of belonging to some branch you
will simply belong to Christ and be a branch yourself in him,
the true vine. Instead of remaining identified with any sect, i.
e., cut-off party, "directly or indirectly the result of sin,"
you will claim membership in and fellowship with the "one and
indivisible church that God has on earth, and that is made up of
all and singular who are born of the Spirit." On this broad and
divinely-established platform, and here only, can you stand clear
of the sin of sectarianism and the blood of immortal souls that
perish through its pernicious influence. Are you strictly loyal to
God while you persist in adhering to a sect, notwithstanding he
says "there should be no schism [sects] in the body" (1 Cor. 12:25)?
I am not advocating the no-church theory that we hear of in the
West, but the one, holy church of the Bible, not bound together by
rigid articles of faith, but perfectly united in love under the
primitive glory of the Sanctifier, "continuing stedfastly in the
apostle's doctrine and fellowship," and taking captive the world
for Jesus.
But it is thought that we should not fight against sects nor
attempt to abolish the evil at present, lest we thereby form
another sect. This is virtually saying we should go on sinning,
"lest a worse thing come upon us!"
An attempt to rally Israel under any of the many party names and
creeds might indeed result in a new sect. But this is not what we
contend for. Nay, but let us rather burn to ashes these high places
of Israel's corruption, and, returning to Jerusalem, let us build
"upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner-stone." Let us abandon the nonsense
of ecclesiastical succession; cease to inflate our pride and vanity
by parading the good and long-since departed, who innocently wore
our party badges--the piety of our fathers will not atone for the
worldliness of the church at present. Let us also quit flourishing
our church creeds as though their excellency were an essential
supplement to the wisdom of inspiration. Let us, we pray you, in
the name of Jesus Christ, for the sake of our holy and divine
religion and a world that is lost in sin--oh, let us put away these
childish things, and return to Jerusalem, not to form a new sect,
but as the 'servants of the God of heaven and earth let us build
the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great King
of Israel [Jesus Christ] builded and set up' (see Ezra 5:11).
Many say we need more union of hearts, but think a visible organic
union unnecessary; but remember that it was a visible union that
Jesus prayed for, such as the world could see and be thereby
convinced and saved. We quote once more from W. H. Starr.
"They will say to me: Can not we have union of feeling without
external union [that is, with external disunion]? I answer No, you
can not, except in rare instances, and in an imperfect degree.
It is vain to be beating off the leaves of the tree while you
continually nourish its roots. And sectarianism is the "root of
bitterness," whose acrid and legitimate fruit of divided hearts,
and jealousy, and strife, doth continually grieve away the Spirit
of our God and Savior, and leave our churches in a comparative
poverty of grace and growth that methinks must make the very
heavens groan with sorrow as they look down upon our dying world.
Up, up! my brother, my sister in Christ, inquire of the Lord
concerning this thing! Why slumber ye here while Satan has entered
the fold of Christ, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and is rending the
flock? Oh, cry to God that he will direct you and all the children
of his grace, till the church of his holy Son shall be purified and
saved. Alas! it is now 'a house divided against itself.' Oh, pray
that the Lord would unite and build it up in the truth; and that
he would show you your duty in the matter. The wants of the world
require a holy and united Church."
From what has been said, and the uniform teaching of the Bible, the
following facts are very evident:
1. The division of the church into sects is one of Satan's most
effectual, if not the very greatest, means of destroying human
souls.
2. Its enormous sin must be answered for by individual adherents
to, and supporters of, sects.
3. The only remedy for this dreadful plague is thorough
sanctification, and this is wrought only by a personal, individual
contact with the blood of Christ through faith.
4. The union required by the Word of God is both a spiritual and
visible union.
5. The divisions of the church are caused by elements that are
foreign to it as a divinely constituted body, by deposits of the
enemy, which exist in the hearts and practises of individual
members, involving their responsibility and requiring their
personal purgation.
These facts make your duty plain. What you and I want, dear reader,
is "thorough and wide-spread holiness" in our individual souls to
destroy denominationalism there. Holiness, ever so thorough and
wide-spread around you, will not cleanse your heart; neither can
the sin of division in the hearts and lives of others attach to
you, unless you drink in their spirit and also become a partisan.
You need not waste time in planning general union movements, or
praying the Lord to restore the unity of his church, until you go
down under the blood and have every bone of contention and cause of
division purged out of your own heart; then you may do something
to influence others to do the same.
You are praying and longing for the happy time when God's children
shall all be one, but are you willing that the "once more"
shaking shall have its designed effect =in your own case=? Do
you, indeed, suffer the Holy Ghost fire to consume out of your
own life, heart, religion, and conversation, all the shaky chaff
and stubble the devil has made to divide the children of God? Do
you, indeed, withdraw from and ignore all churches, so called, but
the one Christ purchased "with his own blood" and founded nearly
nineteen hundred years ago, and to which the "Lord added" you by
regeneration (Acts 2:47)? Do you discard every church title but
that "which the mouth of the Lord hath named" (Isa. 62:2), even
the name of the Father, in which Christ and the apostles kept the
church (John 17:6,11,12; Acts. 20:28; 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Tim. 3:15)? Do
you honor the divine head of the church by rejecting every creed
but the one that "is given by inspiration of God;" every door that
is opened and shut by men; and every spirit but the Sanctifier;
and every motive but the love of God and humanity? If you, by
the grace of God, die to all these prime causes of sectism and
their concomitant sins, then, and not until then, will the Lord
have "thoroughly purged" so much of "his threshing floor" as you
will have to answer for in the day of judgment. Where this is not
accomplished, the grace of God is frustrated; holiness is not
permitted to reach the Bible standard of thoroughness, nor spread
its healing virtue to every part of the soul.
It may look foolish to many thus to blow the trumpet of the Lord
around the high and massy walls of sectarian glory and selfishness,
but the power of God with the faith and shouts of the "holy
people" will surely bring them down. Though the heaps of sectarian
chaff have reached the magnitude of mountains, God has some wheat
scattered through them, and he will have it separated for his
garner. Therefore he says to Jacob, "Fear not ... thou shalt thresh
the mountains, and beat them small, and thou shalt make the hills
as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the whirlwind shall scatter them."
The pure elements of God's church possess a wonderful inherent
attraction and cohesion; but the devil neutralizes the divine
cement by mixing in his chaffy and sloughy trash, thereby effecting
divisions; therefore, the Lord restores union by the "removing of
those things that are shaken, as of things that are made" by the
enemy, thus removing discord and schism. Glory to God! Little Jacob
has barely commenced threshing and separating. Soon we shall see
clouds of chaff driven by the "mighty rushing wind from heaven."
Says Bro. I. Reed, in his paper, The Highway: "The great holiness
movement is shaking harder than ever. It is to be a real moral
earthquake yet. We have nothing to fear in that direction. We
have allied ourselves to the Power that does the shaking, and
feel a kind of holy joy at the falling walls, reeling Babels and
ecclesiastical fortifications that can not stand the grand holiness
shock. In anticipation we enjoy the grand smash-up of things
semi-religious--this half and half, linsey-woolsey type of 'Good
God, Dear Mammon,' kind of fashionable moral froth, too often
called 'religion'--that is coming some of these days. It is coming.
We hear the tread of the mighty army."
Amen. Let the conflict come. God will have a pure church. He will
shake the chaffy works of the devil out of his kingdom, though all
hell be moved in rage; though Gog and Magog surround the camp of
the saints on the breadth of the whole earth.
Dear reader, I am aware that I have here written things that will
be unwelcome to many, truths that will assail and stir up many
prejudices; but in doing so I have determined to cast from me the
fear of man, and clear my conscience in the sight of God.
It is, indeed, my honest conviction that the great holiness reform
can not go forward with the sweeping power and permanent triumph
that God designs it should until the gospel be so preached and
consecration become so thorough that the blood of Christ may
reach and wash away every vestige of denominational distinction,
and "perfect into one"--yea, one indeed and in truth--all the
sanctified.
I am aware that this will elicit storms of persecution, but in the
name of the Lord it must come. God will be glorified in the escape
of his holy children from all human enclosures into the "one" and
identical "fold of Jesus Christ." Oh! let us be honest before God
in this matter.
[Music: Prophetic Truth.