Saturday, April 22, the hand of the Lord was heavily upon our soul,
had no relish to converse with any one but God. Finally in company
with two brethren we went into the house of God at Hardinsburg,
Ind., and placed ourselves under the searching eye of God, when
the Spirit of the Lord showed me the inconsistency of repudiating
sects and yet belonging to an association that is based upon sect
recognition. We promised God to withdraw from all such compacts.
But being dearly attached to the holiness work, we attended the
Association at Terre Haute, and tried to have the sect-endorsing
clause removed from the constitution. Its substance is as follows,
speaking of local associations:
"It shall consist of members of various Christian organizations and
seek to work in harmony with all these societies."
We offered the following substitute: "It shall consist of, and seek
to cooperate with, all true Christians everywhere."
We had supposed that fellowship and cooperation should not exclude
any person or truth that is in Christ Jesus, and that we should not
be compelled to bow down to anything not in, nor of, Christ Jesus.
We were positively denied membership on the ground of not adhering
to any sect. And now we wish to announce to all that we wish to
cooperate with all Christians, as such, in saving souls--but
=forever withdraw= from all organisms that uphold and endorse sects
and denominations in the body of Christ.
In the same issue (June 1) he reviews a position taken by T. K. Doty,
the editor of the Christian Harvester. We present this article, and
also two others, in order to show his argument on the question of the
church and sects.