The Oberlin Evangelist
THE CHURCH BOUND TO CONVERT THE WORLD--2
April 23, 1845
Modernized by Cliff
Collins
(Conclusion)
Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
V. What are the reasons why we fail to make
disciples of all the nations?
a. It is not because a lack of people. The church has always had enough people to
accomplish this work, if she had had a heart to do it.
b. It is not for lack of resources. The Church has always possessed all the
resources that are necessary to accomplish this goal.
c. It is not because of a lack of a sufficient
number of educated men to carry this work forward. The church has always had plenty of education, and the means of
education are more than enough to have accomplished this work.
d. It is not because God has not been ready.
e. Nor is it because there isn’t enough time, nor
for the lack of resources of any kind.
All these things have always been at the church's disposal. But,
1. A lack of faith has been the fundamental problem,
a lack of real confidence in the truth that Christ possesses all power, and is
always present, ready, and willing to grant everything that this church needs
for success.
2. There is a lack of complete consecration to the
work of converting the world. The few
individuals living in different ages, who have been clearly consecrated to this
work, have accomplished a lot. I have
recently been reading an account of the spread and success of the gospel in
every century since the beginning of the Christian era, and it is greatly
edifying to see what individual effort has done, to see how much individuals,
who have really been consecrated to this work have produced. The fact is, that wherever a man or a woman
has had faith, and has had the spirit of consecration to do this work, they
have produced a lot of fruit. It is
very clear from what they have accomplished, that nothing was needed but the general
consecration of the professing church of God to do this work and this work
would have been accomplished centuries ago.
3. Sectarianism has been one major reason for
failure, perhaps it is the most important reason why the world is not converted
today. Sectarian ambition, jealousy,
conflicts, these and innumerable other evils have clustered around this growing
abomination. Nine tenths, and perhaps I
might say ninety-nine hundredths, of both ministerial and lay efforts have lost
their power because of a sectarian spirit.
Go wherever you want to over this great land, and what do you see? Why!
In every small village with a population perhaps just enough to make one
respectable congregation, you find half a dozen or more feeble churches, of
different denominations with as many half-starved, and deservedly half-starved
ministers, keeping up their sectarian walls, and perhaps unintentionally,
keeping alive the very prejudice that prevents the success of the gospel.
One minister moves into the area to attend to the
Presbyterian or Congregational interests in that place and region. Another must be sent in to attend to the
Close Baptist interests and another to attend to the Free-will Baptists
interests. Next there must be two or
three Methodist ministers to attend to the Episcopal interests and the Wesleyan
Methodist interests, and the low church Episcopal interests; next, but no
least, the New School interests, and the Old School interests, and in the minds
of all of this, they generally seem to attend, pretty thoroughly, to the
devil’s interests. No, I am not saying
that they really intended to do such a thing.
God forbid that I should make any such insinuation. But, the devil’s interest couldn’t be better
secured by any other arrangement other than this arrangement. They really intend to secure the interests
of their respective denominations, and that’s what they will tell you. But, by doing this, they, most effectively,
hinder the success of the kingdom of Christ!
In this way, those jealousies and factions are
maintained, which grieve the Spirit, alienate the hearts of Christians from
each other, weaken the hands of the ministers, disgust the impenitent, and
please the devil. Now I have no doubt
whatsoever, that in the great majority of cases, if not in nine cases out of
ten, if all the ministers but one in such villages, should leave the area, and
let the one who stays belong to one of the evangelical denominations, I don’t
care which one. It doesn’t matter,
because that one minister could do more, perhaps ten times more with the others
out of the way, than they could all do together. If all those other ministers would all go off to the heathen, or
to destitute regions in our own country, and spread themselves out, and never
again think of their denominational interests, we would never again hear such
things as going somewhere to nurse the interests of this sect and that
sect. They would give themselves
directly to the work of converting the world to God, and almost infinitely more
could be done than is done now.
This subject used to be the burden and the agony of
my soul before I came to Oberlin. When
I first came here, I was resolved on using whatever influence I had to make
sure we adopted a creed that should comprehend only the fundamentals of
Christian doctrine, and also to secure that we would tolerate differences of
opinion on all minor points, so that all true Christians could unite. Then, if ever sectarians crept in, they
could not sneak in under the pretense that their members were excluded from our
communion. They would have to take
total responsibility for introducing into this community that abomination from
the pit, which is a sectarian spirit.
Here we are, thus far, one congregation, and I see what a crown I have
around me; but what should we do if we were divided into a half dozen
congregations, with as many ministers to argue for their sectarian
peculiarities? It would be the curse
and the ruin of this place, of this Institution, and of the cause of Christ in
our midst.
I want to make a strong impression on this subject,
and I wish that I could succeed in making the church feel that sectarianism is
doing a thousand times more to prevent the world’s conversion, than all the
Infidelity and Universalism and Catholicism, and every other ism that curses
the world, all put together. I fear
that few people today think about this at all.
Let anyone create, among a people, sectarian jealousies and prejudices,
and he can never promote true and undefiled religion there. There is a lot of delusion on this
subject. Many who do nothing but
promote sectarian interests seem to be fondly dreaming that they are promoting
the cause of Christ. They think they
are making real Christians, and converting men to God, but they are deceiving
themselves as well as others. If they
are creating sectarian prejudice, if they are merely fostering denominational
interests, they may be crossing sea and land, and making many converts, but
they are making them twice the children of hell then they are.
The fact is that the spirit of sectarianism instantly
cools individual piety. It curses
churches. It ruins communities. It swallows up a great part of the
ministerial influence of the church. In
most of the villages throughout the land, they should all unite into one
congregation, and if they would do this, they would be able to support the
ministry much more abundantly and do much to spread the gospel. However, being divided like they are, into
little churches, they must each build a house, a little house, that will hold
two, three, or four hundred people, and they must hire a minister. They must pay him a salary, and he must
preach on Sunday to some fifty or a hundred souls, and spend his weekdays, either
on a farm, or involved in some other lucrative job to keep his family fed.
Now what do my brethren think that they are engaged
in? Is this the way for ministers to be
used up? What! When twenty thousand ministers are immediately
demanded in India, and hundreds of thousands are needed in other parts of the
world? Why, men and brethren, we would
probably be better of if four out of every five of all the ministers in the
land would clear out, and only let one stay behind in an area. I have long thought that I never would agree
to settle down and consent to preach the gospel under the circumstances I have
been talking about. I would never
occupy a position anywhere where there were a number of ministers, and one
could do the work better. I do not
believe that God can ever bless any thing like this, and I am agonized and
pained to my very heart to see that this is the general state of the church
over the whole land today. I have
discovered that many of my brethren have felt distressed on this subject, just
as I have.
However, the remedy is here. Let the true spirit of the world’s
conversion simply take possession of the entire ministry, and the days of
sectarianism will be numbered and finished.
Then the present ministry may be spread over a field five or ten times
as great as that which they now occupy, and even then, they will much more fully
meet the real needs of the people than they now do.
4. Another cause of failure has been that the church
has largely lost sight of the true spirit of what Christ says in today’s
passage. As I was presenting this
thought not long ago, that is, that the church was commanded to convert the
world, and though the strength and grace that Christ had is enough power to
convert the world, a brother said to me, “Why, this is new! This is a totally new view of the subject. The church has not understood this.” Now I would ask, “To whom is it new”? The brother that said that to me did not
mean that it was not the true meaning of the passage, but that he and his
church had not even thought about it. I
am afraid that it is new to hundreds and thousands of professing followers of
Christ. Indeed, it would appear that
this vision has largely been lost. If I
am not mistaken, Christians do not generally understand that this passage
requires them to make disciples of sinners around them. But, certainly, this is its true meaning!
I am afraid that many parents do not understand that
they are even required to convert their own children, and that churches do not
generally understand that they are responsible for the conversion of the
impenitent in their midst. Yet, I have
no doubts that this is the truth of revelation. Who can deny that this is the true spirit and meaning of what
Christ says in today’s passage? If
Christ commanded the church to make disciples or Christians of all nations, on
the ground that He possesses all power in heaven and on earth, and He will be
with them and aid them in this work, isn’t it our duty to convert those immediately
around us? Isn’t it our duty to make
disciples of those in our own homes?
Who can deny this?
5. But, not only has the Church lost sight of this
command, but they have also lost sight of the attached promise, “Lo I am with
you”. The true spirit and meaning of
what Christ says here, doesn’t seem to be generally recognized and felt. Neither the ministers nor the laity seem to
take hold of this promise and really anchor down on what Christ really intended
here. It is as if Christ had said, “I
possess almighty power; Go forth, therefore, and convert all nations; and I
will be with you and give you success”.
It is true, therefore, that whenever we go forth to this work we should
expect to accomplish it. We are to rest
assured that Christ is with us, and that in His strength the work can be, will
be, and must be done.
6. Another thing that has greatly hindered the work
has been that too much has been expected from human education, and not enough,
by any means, from Christ or from the Holy Spirit. Human education has its place, and its importance, but scholars
are altogether too likely to place too much reliance on their knowledge, and to
little on the Holy Ghost. This is also
a tremendous error. Congregations are
looking for a man of talents, a man of eloquence in the church, a man of
learning, instead of a deeply spiritual, praying man. The choices that the churches make when they select men to preach
the gospel, proves that they really place more reliance on human eloquence and
learning than they do on deep spirituality, and the power of the Holy
Ghost. How many of you know a church,
where they place their most important emphasis on the faith, the piety, and
deep spirituality of the minister they have chosen? No; the first thing they seek is talent; the second thing they
seek may be piety, and last of all, they look for deep spirituality and great
faith and power in prayer. Now they
have completely reversed the true order.
Until they consider the deep piety, faith, and spirituality of the man
whom they choose as pastor as his most important qualities, they can expect
curses from God rather then blessings.
The fact is, God will not give His glory to another; and where the
importance is placed on human learning, and the idea of spiritual influence is
thrown into the background, God cannot secure to Himself the glory, and therefore
He will not work.
7. The work has been greatly retarded by a lack of
deep sympathy with Christ. The church
has not loved a ruined world as Christ loved it, and as the Father loved
it. Listen, when parents choose to love
their children as Christ loved them, they will make the same sacrifices for their
salvation as Christ made. In fact, as
soon as they begin to do this, they can expect that their children will soon be
converted. When the church really
enters into sympathy with Christ, and so loves the world that they are willing
to give themselves up for its salvation, to live and to die for this purpose;
when this spirit becomes common, and the church willingly goes forth as Christ
went forth, and the church lives and labors as Christ lived and labored, and
the church lays down their lives on the battlefield as Christ laid down His
life, then the work will be soon accomplished.
I truly believe the world could be converted in fifty years, just as
easily as it could be converted in five hundred or five thousand years.
8. The Church has been discouraged. She has had so little faith that her efforts
by way of missionary labor have accomplished comparatively little. There is no doubt that her success has
equaled her faith, and perhaps surpassed it, but still she has been so
unbelieving that comparatively little has been accomplished. Little can be accomplished until the Church
of Jesus Christ today believes the promises of God.
9. Conformity to the world in almost every respect
has been another great, and I may say, growing impediment to the world’s conversion. This subject branches out in so many
directions, I can’t even begin to list them all.
10. Another hindrance has been that the attention
and efforts of the church are directed to mere outward reforms. This has often unutterably pained me. Instead of doing as the apostles did, directly
addressing ourselves to the hearts and consciences of men; instead of beginning
within to reform, the church has been to a great extent satisfying herself with
a mere outward reform.
11. Worldly ambition in young men who are professing
Christians has stood greatly in the way of the world’s conversion. They are in such a state that they have come
to look on the ministry as if it was nothing more than a career or an
occupation, and they don’t recognize that they are pledged to convert the
world. As soon as they possibly can,
they turn aside into other professions, and to other businesses, and they leave
the world and the cause of Christ to take care of themselves.
12. Another problem in the way of the conversion of
the world has been clerical ambition.
The whole history of the church shows this. In almost every age of the Christian church, there has been a
grasping after power, even among the ministers of Christ. They have become jealous of lay influence
and have taken everything into their own hands. It would seem that they would rather do the work alone, but they
never can. It is impossible. The best and most successful minister is the
minister who knows how to bring the greatest amount of lay effort to bear on
the world, and who actually accomplishes this.
Ministers can do only a very small part of this work. If they allow themselves to become jealous
of lay influence, keep the laymen and women sitting quietly in their pews, and
dedicate their lives to feeding them and promoting their piety without
requiring them to consecrate their personal service to the work, they will
surely find themselves greatly mistaken.
This must not happen. It is
contrary to the true nature of religion.
Every man and every woman must constantly be
involved in some spiritual labor, or they cannot grow in grace. One very important thing, it seems to me,
which ministers should do is to plan labors for the lay men; to feed them with
the sincere milk of the word; to give them enough spiritual food, and then
encourage them to perform the work.
I could mention so many other reasons that has
hindered this great work throughout the ages, but I must move on to our next
point.
VI. What is the great guilt of the Church’s failure
to go and make disciples of all nations?
1. The truth we insist on here is this; that the
blood of the world is on the hands of the Church. God informed the prophet that if he did not warn and do his duty
to the wicked, the wicked would die in his sins, but the blood of that sinner
would be on the hands of that prophet, and that prophet would have to answer to
God for his disobedience. Now under the
Christian dispensation the whole Church is placed in the same position with the
prophet in this respect. It was the prophet
and the priest on whom principally the duty of warning the guilty was
delegated. But, Christ has commissioned
and commanded the whole church to do this.
He has required her to teach and disciple all nations. This principle once applied to the prophet,
but today this principle especially applies to the whole church.
2. The great law of unselfish love requires the
church to do everything in her power to convert the world, and God holds her
guilty of the world’s blood if she allows it to be lost. Christ said of the church, “You are the
light of the world. You are the salt of
the earth.” (Matt 5:13) If therefore, the world is not enlightened,
it is the fault of the church. If the
world is not preserved from moral putrefaction, it is the fault of the
church. If the name of Jesus is not
familiar to every human being in every language and in every climate, it is the
fault of the church. The church has had
enough time. The church has possessed
all the required means. It has all the
resources. The Church has the promise
of the one who has “all power in heaven and in earth”, to be with them, and
give them all the aid that is necessary.
Where then is the blood of the world but on the hands of the church?
I must close what I have to say with a few
REMARKS.
1. This guilt attaches to every Christian to whom
the command in today’s passage has come, and who is not completely consecrated
to the work of saving souls. It is high
time that every Christian should understand his duty in this matter. It is high time that every Christian should
understand the importance of this responsibility. He should daily consider to what or whom he stands committed, and
the guilt he will incur if he allows himself to be diverted from the great
work, the accomplishment of which, he is permitted to live in this world.
2. When God asks why the blood of sinners is on
their hands, what will become of those professing Christians who have turned
aside from this work and are attending to other things? I have said that the ambition of young men
and I might add, of many young men who should prepare for the ministry, has
turned them aside into law-offices and land-offices, into stores and factories,
and into all kinds of worldly occupations, because these courses of life
provide opportunities for them to obtain greater wealth or worldly
influence. To say the least, they have
clearly not taken the position in which they might most successfully and
directly pursue the great work of the world’s conversion.
Now, young man, when God asks you to give an account
why you are spotted with the blood of souls, He will say to you, “Where is you
brother? The voice of your brother’s
blood cries to Me from the grave. Where
are you? What have you done? Why did you never dedicate yourself completely
and directly to the work of the world’s conversion? Take this unprofitable servant; bind him hand and foot, and cast
him into outer darkness; for there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.” The same may and must be said
about all Christians who have turned aside from this great work to their own
selfish interests, and left the world in its blood to sink down to hell.
From this subject, we can easily see the tremendous
mistake that was made by the church soon after the death of the Apostles. Various causes soon came into operation that
developed an ascetic idea of religion.
This immediately diverted the church away from the great goal of the
world’s conversion to seek after what they imagined to be a higher state of
spirituality. Soon after the Apostle’s
days, as we learn from history, and, in fact, it even existed, to some extent,
while some of the Apostles were still alive, the idea had become popular that
the world was coming to an end; that Christ’s second coming was at hand; and
that He was coming to judge the world.
No doubt, this idea had a lot of influence in bringing about the state
of things that I am just about to mention.
Because they believed Christ was coming back soon,
it appears that they appeared to give up on the idea of the world’s conversion
because the human race would soon be destroyed and Christ would soon
return. Great multitudes retreated from
the world and dedicated themselves to what they believed was a strictly
religious life, practicing celibacy and various austerities, mortifications,
and self-denials. They shut themselves
out from society and lived in seclusion, apparently believing that to live in
the world and associate with men as Christ and His apostles had done, was not
consistent with the highest degrees of spirituality. They therefore took upon themselves an entirely different course
of life. They lost the true idea of
religion altogether, and attempted to become spiritual without one particle of
pure unselfish love, or, in other words, without true religion. They sought a spirituality that was anything
but true Christianity. Instead of
pressing the world’s conversion with passion, they began to build nunneries and
monasteries and to establish institutions for the very purpose of secluding the
spiritual ones from any relationship with the world. Then, they shut themselves up in those places of questionable
spirituality. Every reader of church
history must be familiar with the deplorable and fundamental error that a large
portion of the church fell into as the efforts for the world’s conversion practically
ground to a halt. A dark cloud grew and
settled down over the prospects of dying humanity.
3. It is easy to see the error which our Second
Advent brethren of the present day have fallen into. Many of them have given up completely, not only the idea of the
world’s conversion and, as a result, all efforts to save the world, but also,
as far as their influence extends, they have also given up, and are trying to
persuade others to give up, the idea and the expectation that sinners can be
converted anymore. Now I would ask you,
by what authority do they retreat from carrying out the command of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that He gave in today’s passage?
Suppose it is true that Christ may come at any given time this year, or
next year, is not the command in the text binding until He does come? And, doesn’t the attached promise that says
that He will be with us in this work good until the end? Has He said, “Go and make disciples of all
nations until a certain time and then stop?”
I don’t think so. Now whether it
is true or false that Christ will come soon, it is a horrible mistake for
Christians to abandon all their efforts to convert sinners.
4. Doesn’t the command in this passage, with its
attached promise, authorize and require the church to go forth to convert the
world expecting that the world will be converted? Suppose the Church should rise up right now and address herself
to this work and lays hold of the promise of Christ; can anyone believe that
Christ would say, “Oh, you’re too late now!
I won’t wait for you to convert the world now. I won’t go with you
now. I said I would be with you to the
end of the world, but I wont be with you anymore. Please don’t to go forth to do this work; it is too late now.” Who believes that Christ would take back His
promise and not go forth with His church to convert the world?
5. From what I have said today, we can see the error
of many Christians today, even whole Churches,
who are waiting for God’s time, and who are saying, “The time has not
come to build the house of the Lord”.
They accuse us of going to work in our own strength every time we
attempt to promote a revival. They
accuse us of trying to take the work out of the hands of God, of interfering
with His sovereignty, of compassing sea and land to win one convert, and so
on. Why, what do they mean? What do they mean when they are saying that
they are waiting for God’s time? I have
heard some of them talk like this. They
insist that they must have some inward impulse or some special Divine
revelation to go forth to do this work.
They must wait for God to send them.
They don’t believe in going out to convert sinners unless God sends
them. Now, this is a terrible
mistake! Christ has already commanded
the whole church to go; and now, shall the church say that she must stop and
wait for some kind of revelation from God before she can go forward? Must she overlook the true letter and spirit
of this command and promise, and wait for some other revelation? Indeed, there are certain individuals who,
it seems, would rather persuade the church not to go until she is sent by the
Spirit, not to move until God moves; and they are telling those who are willing
to do something to convert sinners that God has not required them to do this,
that they must remain quiet and rest until God moves them to do this work. Now this is certainly a tremendous
error. This is a great and a disastrous
error. If God requires us, in His
written word, to do something, should we wait for some other revelation? If God commands sinners to repent, are they
supposed to wait for some other revelation of His will? If God requires Christians to go forth and
convert the world are they to wait eighteen hundred years and while they
continue to sing the lullaby, “wait on Gods time, don’t run before you are
sent”?
6. The beliefs of these Adventists and Antinomians
are doing a lot these days to retard the great work of converting souls to
God. The Adventists not only seem to
have completely lost their confidence and interest in this work, but they have
really shaken the confidence of a great number of people who are not
Adventists, at least enough to reduce their zeal. I find that we have gotten to the place where many people even doubt
whether the nations will ever be converted to God. Some even doubt that they can be converted to God. Many of the Adventists have boldly
proclaimed that it can’t happen; that the nations must be destroyed. They say that many nations cannot become
disciples of Christ. They proclaim that
to convert the world is out of the question; that the world is too wicked to be
converted to true Christianity. They
seem to have taken up a view of the Christian religion that is the exact
opposite of the Christianity that our Savior represents.
They boldly proclaim, in fact, I have heard them
proclaim, that the tendency of things in this world is to snuff out Christian
religion everywhere; to extinguish its light, and drive it from the world. However, Christ’s representation of His own
Church is exactly the opposite of this.
Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven”.
Now what He means by the phrase ‘the kingdom of heaven’ is true
religion. “The kingdom of heaven is
like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was
all leavened.” (Matt 13:33) “It is like a mustard seed which, when it is
sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is
sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large
branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.” (Mark 4:31-32) Daniel said the kingdom of heaven was like a stone cut out of the
mountain, which rolled and grew as it proceeded until it became a great mountain
and filled the earth. (Daniel
2:35) Now, many passages in scripture
speak about the kingdom of God, or about true religion in the world jut like
these passages. These representations
of true religion are the exact opposite of the way that our Advent brethren represent
true religion. The only kingdom of God,
according to them, which can ever stand and prosper in this world, is a kingdom
set up all at once, filling the whole earth by destroying the wicked. Is this like leaven? Is this like that little bit of leaven that
is hidden in three measures of meal and grows until the whole batch is leavened?
But, let me to return to the point which I stated
just a few minutes ago, which was, that these brethren have done a lot to
dishearten the church, to shake their confidence, to create doubts in many pious
minds on this subject, and thus they’ve helped to weaken the energies of the
church when she has just begun to wake up to the importance of this great
enterprise. On whose skirts shall the
blood of thousands who will perish as a result of such teaching be found? From what I have read in God’s precious
word, nothing could persuade me to put a damper on the rising hopes of the
church to convert the world.
7. I am fully persuaded that nothing but the absence
of love, or in other words, nothing but the absence of true religion, is the
reason for the sectarianism that is dividing and cursing the church today. Nothing is lacking except for the church to
be thoroughly imbued with the spirit of brotherly love, and of sympathy with
Christ concerning the world’s conversion.
Nothing is lacking except for the church to unite her energies, and
concentrate them on this great work. It
is really amazing and agonizing that mere differences of opinion on points of
minor importance, should tear the church into parties, destroy her unity, and
not only jeopardize, but tragically hasten and increase the ruin of the world.
The more I see of the way God is moving among us
here at Oberlin, the more I am satisfied of the great error of division in the
church because of differences of opinion on points of doctrine that are not
fundamental. Our Confession of Faith
and Covenant were designed to embrace only those points of Christian doctrine
that we strongly believe are fundamental to the existence of the true church of
God. We have, by the blessing of God,
been enabled to live together now ten years as one church. People from nearly all the evangelical
churches in the land have come and united with us. We have gone on without controversy and division up until now, on
the principle of the most affectionate toleration of theological opinions
concerning everything that is not fundamental.
We have not yet found any difficulty in carrying out this great
commission. There has been, now and
then, a sectarian spirit here who has felt uneasy, and has made occasional
efforts to introduce sectarianism, and put up sectarian walls in the midst of
us. But, the religious feeling of this
community has, up until now, looked coldly on all such efforts, and the really
pious among us, whatever their peculiar shades of opinion have, up until now,
seemed to be united in frowning down all sectarian movements. Now why can’t this be true in every village
and every town in the land? I can see
no reason why this shouldn’t be true.
8. If the ministers of all evangelical denominations
would so thoroughly wake up to the world’s conversion and agree among
themselves that two ministers should not occupy any field that could be
supplied by one, if ministers refuse to encourage Christians to separate
because of doctrinal views and differences that are not fundamental, if
ministers should determine that they will no longer allow themselves to waste
their time over little feeble churches where Christians are divided by
sectarian prejudices; if they would resolve that no more than one minister of
an evangelical denomination should be spared to one field, and if they would
insist that, where a village or town is not too large for one congregation,
only one minister should be left to occupy that field, the a state of affairs
in the church would be so different, it would be like the difference between
night and day. It would be vastly
better for every village and every town in the world of Christianity where
ministers would take this stand, and if all of the rest were in heaven, or in
Timbuktu, or in any other part of the universe, it would be better than for
them to be huddled together, three or four ministers, in reality, supplying
only one congregation or only enough souls to make one congregation, and this
also under such circumstances that it must almost entirely exclude all true
religion from the place. It seems to me
that ministers should resolve not to do this.
When they find a town or a village occupied by a decidedly evangelical
and pious minister where there are not enough people for more than one large
and healthy congregation, they should refuse to settle, under any
circumstances, simply to gratify the prejudices of a few sectarian spirits who
want to start a church of another denomination. This is shady business; it is anti-Christian. Instead, such sectarian spirits should be
rebuked.
9. I have often wondered how ministers could think
that they are doing God’s will, when they dedicate their lives to minister to
sectarian prejudices and to nurse the interests of one party, of one sect, instead
of going forth in the spirit of true Christian unity to pull souls out of the
fire. There is no describing, in words,
the folly, and anti-Christian tendency of all such things as these. Just look at the Church. See the ministers go from place to place,
and where they find a few Presbyterians or a few Methodists or a few Baptists,
they say, here are a few of our members.
We must now plant a church here.
The interests of our sect must be nursed and secured here. They immediately scurry around gathering
little churches, laying down their roots, putting up their sectarian walls, and
gathering around them all the paraphernalia of sectarianism. Now, in comes a minister of another
denomination and finds a few whose prejudices favor his sect. Therefore, he must gather a church. And then, another minister does the same,
and another, and another, until you will see their little meeting-houses or
other places of worship scattered here and there, with a few sectarian spirits
gathered around a sectarian minister, all jealous of each other and making
efforts as they say and as they believe, to convert the world. Now what is the result? Why, one of these churches must have some
kind of revival or evangelistic meeting. They must make some kind of revival
effort, since the other congregations are perhaps gaining the advantage of them
in numbers and influence. They must
hire the most eloquent preacher they can, and make an effort to build up their
congregation, and establish their sect.
The other churches look coldly on, and directly begin to feel, as if
their church and congregation are in danger of being encroached on, and so they
must begin a similar effort and have a revival meeting. They must, if possible, hire a more eloquent
preacher than the other church had.
They must make a lot of noise, pray, and go from house to house visiting
and appearing to feel for souls; when we should fear that the real spirit
behind their efforts and their prayers is, “Lord, build up our sect, make our
congregation popular, add to our numbers so that we can more easily support our
minister, and give us decidedly the most popular and wealthy congregation in
this area, amen”.
By this time another, and then another of these
little churches begins to move in the same direction and for the same
reason. Thus, they affect each other
until they all become inflamed with great zeal, and they greatly provoke each
other, not to love and good works, but to sectarianism and party efforts. The result of this whole mess may be a few
real converts, and a number of thorough sectarian additions to the different
churches. But the whole thing is viewed
as a disgrace in the eyes of a thinking but impenitent community. Now, how infinitely better would it have
been, for only one minister to occupy this field, no matter what peculiar
evangelical denomination he belongs to?
How much better it would be, if ministers would refuse
to allow Christians to be divided into different denominations in a place where
they could, just as well, all unite in one church and in one congregation. It is almost disastrous to the cause of
Christ to make these divisions. It is a
stumbling block to the church, it is a curse and an abomination to the world,
and when God asks why the Church is covered with the blood of countless unsaved
sinners, then let those sectarians be ready to answer. But, you may ask, what shall ministers
do? If only one minister is to occupy a
field on which only enough inhabitants for one congregation reside, wouldn’t a
great many ministers be thrown out of a job?
My answer is, all the better.
They can be spared to go to the heathen, or to devote themselves to
other necessary and useful occupations.
Why shall the church be burdened down by the need to support so many
ministers and so many half-empty buildings when one minister and one building
can do the work better than all of them put together?
10. Christians strongly stand in their own light and
not in the light of Christ when they divide themselves into different
churches. A true spirit of unity would
enable all of them to dwell together, and unite and labor harmoniously for building
up the kingdom of Christ. Why do they
load themselves with the burden of supporting two, three, or even a half dozen
ministers in a town or a village where one minister could more effectively
accomplish the work? Oh! Christians are often not aware how much
sectarianism there is even in their own minds, and how infinitely foolish it is
for them to be sticklers for doctrines and opinions that they know are not
fundamental. How foolish it is for
Christians to alienate the hearts of brethren from one another, to cause the
world to stumble, and to grieve the heart of Christ!
11. Another great evil is the influence of sectarian
newspapers. This evil is a rapidly
growing one. Each denomination must
have its own monthly magazine. As the
sect increases, multitudes of smaller papers are started, the conduct and
policy of which is anything but Christian.
Generally, they only publish one side of any question, and in many
situations, they keep their readers completely in the dark concerning the real
questions and facts that they are talking about. There is hardly anything that appears more shocking to me, more
anti-Christian and more God-dishonoring, than the course taken by sectarian
newspapers. It is not just sad; it is
truly shocking to see how often they are filled with misrepresentations. Now what is the result of all this, other
than to blind and mislead the different denominations, destroy their Christian
confidence in each other, tear apart their hearts and destroy their efforts. What else can such things do other than to
chill, and freeze, and even drive the spirit of vital piety from among
them?
I have often asked myself, how can the editors of
these newspapers not see what they are doing?
How can ministers not see that creating such prejudices, producing such
misapprehensions, and fostering such a spirit in their churches actually ruins
them because it destroys all their real piety, and substitutes nothing but a
bitter and sectarian zeal in its place?
With my present views, I would rather have my right hand cut off and my
right eye plucked out. Indeed, it seems
to me, that I would rather have my heart torn from my body, than to put forth
my hand to such a work as this: ministering and catering to prejudice,
alienating the hearts of brethren from each other, tearing apart the church of
God, and nursing a party spirit.
Oh! This is a work of
death! When God shall ask why the blood
of sinners stains the garments of the Church, I say again, let those engaged in
this work prepare to meet their God. My
heart is full of this subject but I must move on.
12. Another thing that has done so much to retard
the great work of the world’s conversion is that many Christians have turned
away from their proper work, and from their direct effort to convert and
sanctify the world to God, to engage in various other matters whose truth and
tendency are very questionable. I have
been astonished to find that so many ministers have, occasionally, dedicated
their time lecturing on phrenology, hypnotism, and similar things. They have gone around this country and into
our cities and collected large audiences and given them a course of lectures on
these subjects, with nothing more than making an indirect allusion to God and
Christ every now and then, and they say little or nothing about the salvation
of the soul. It seems to me, that this
is gross apostasy from the great work of the world's conversion.
13. It hardly needs to be said, and it grieves me a
lot to have to say that Christians, and even many ministers today, have gotten
completely sidetracked, especially recently, by party politics. Indeed, nearly all the reforms that are
popular these days have taken on, in an alarming way, the appearance of a mere
outward and, of course, a mere temporary reform. Multitudes of ministers have forsaken the direct work of
converting the souls of men to God, and have gone into various agencies to promote
these mere outward reforms. I greatly
fear that such efforts, pushed as they are these days, are, after all, making
the outside of the cup and platter clean, while the “extortion and
self-indulgence” within is left untouched.
Now, beloved, let us, for a moment, come right back to the
question. What do we have to do? What is the business that we must focus our
attention on? Here the command and
promise of today’s passage lies in all its force right before us. We are to act as if Christ has just given us
this great commission for the first time, and the Church today should address
herself to the work with as much zeal, earnestness, and consecration as she
would if Christ had, for the first time today, stood on the earth and given out
this great commission; “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth. Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Now, please understand, that no one, who
hears this command and does not obey in the true spirit and meaning of it, has
a right to be called a Christian, no matter who he is. If he does not consecrate himself to this
work, if he does not hold on and persevere in doing what he can to accomplish
it to the end of life, he has no sympathy with Christ, no regard for His requirements,
and no title to eternal life.