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MDCCCLXXX. »►, ir ^ Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty, by the TlBV. Geokok C. Moore, J.P., in the office of the Minister of Agriculture, McMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY §tAUiMi0\%* TO THE MEMORY OF Til': LATE Itb. MtxHnbtt xaon. '*f OP TUBBERMORB, IN THE lilOVINCE OF ULSTER, Of whom the Rev. Spencer Murch, of England, has recently written : — " All Dr. Alexander Carson wrote deserves preservation. His singular worth of character ; his kindly, genial disposition ; his Catholic heart ; his pungent pen ; his reverence for God's word and truth, and his universal scholarship, place him first amongst the sons of wie/i," THIS WORK IS FONDLY INSCRIBED, BY HIS PUPIL AND BIOGRAPHER, THE AUTHOR. " I do as is my duty Honour the shadow of your shoe-tie,"- Hudibras. '> See Appendix "B.'* N PREFACE, A REASON WHY T. J AUTHOR HAS WRITTEN THIS BOOK. , I HE late Rev. Dr. Wills, an eminent divine and voluminous writer, formerly of New York City, gave the world reason to expect it, by tlie following paragraph in his work on "Christian Ordinances," published in A.D. 1852. He says : — " Next, among many others that we think of, is the Great Alexander Carson, the man that was ad- mitted by all master-minds to be in advance of his age ; he, who saw so far into the truthfulness of un- restricted communion, as to declare it a self-evident principle, and saw about as much av thority in the Scriptures for restricted communion among the Bap- tist denomination, as the Papists did for the doctrine VI PEEFACE. of Transuhstantiation ; and it may be judged (for it is in print) from the way in which he handled that fallacy, that he would have strangled restricted com- munion, had he come out on it fully, as he would a lizard from a bog, upon which he might set his foot. Had his life been spared, he purposed giving to the world his views of that system, which he utterly de- nounced as without authority in the Word of God. But there are those* who possess his views upon the subject, given from his own lips ; they tell us that possibly they shall some day give them forth in a printed form, and this is no more than the religious community will expect from them. Their testimony is, that had the Doctor written his own sentiments, the Baptist denomination must have stood amazed at the absurdity of the position they had all along been striving to defend. . ^ • t ■ *^^^ " The master-mind of Dr. Carson, which would never suffer him to mince matters, led him to avow that restricted communion was contrary to all Scripture principle." * Referring to the author of this work. 1 PREFACE. Vll It has been said that " fraud deals in generalities." But whether I am chargeable, or not, with being cither too particular, or general, I entreat all my Christian readers to peruse, carefully and prayer- fully, both the first and tJie eighth chapters of this hook. The particulars contained therein apply to all the people of God, of all sects and denominations ; but especially and emphatically to the Close Com- munion Baptists. I have taken a long time to write a short book. It has been under contemplation for thirty years. I fully concur in the sentiments ex- pressed by an ancient Koman, who said that, " Our ancestors might be contented with the immoderate and tedious length of speeches which was in vogue in those ages. As in truth, to be able to harangue for a whole day together was, in itself, looked upon at that illiterate period as a talent worthy of the highest admiration. The immeasurable introduction, the circumstantial argument, drawn out in dull variety of logical deductions, together with a thou- sand other impertinences of the same tasteless stamp, were then held in supreme honour. To confess the Vlll PREFACE. plain truth, the effect which many of the ancients have upon me, is to dispose me either to laugh, or sleep." ' Were it not for my desire to favour both my pub- lishers and my readers, I could very easily have caused my theme to fill a large folio. And as the doctrine propounded is both original and important, many may think that it needed more amplification. But though much condensed, I trust m}' arguments and illustrations are not obscure. I have written, not for the thoughtless multitude, but for the think- ing few. From them, therefore, I crave, if necessary a second, or even a third reading. I have traversed a hitherto unexplored region ; my pathway has been heretofore untrodden. May I not, therefore, claim forbearance ? I presume that the Christian world has hitherto been devoid of a scientific work on the doctrine of " Divine Examiiles!' And this fact is as unaccountable as it is lamentable. For had it been otherwise, the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ might long since have been united. Not that the writer is at all sanguine as regardc a successful issue. PREFACE. IX because of his feeble endeavours. The difficulties which beset a divided Christendom are too conipli- catcd and appalling to expect immediate success. My efforts and desires, however, are both heavenly and harmonizing. My wish is to have all externally united who profess to love Christ, and who believe all the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. My efforts to convince the restricted, or Close Com- munion Baptists, that they are wrong in constitut- ing Baptism the initiatory rite, or the door of admis- sion into the Church of Christ, will apply almost equally to all Psedobaptist denominations, except the Quakers, My thanks are due to that devoted minister and eminent Oriental scholar, the Rev. Spencer Murch, of England, for an original letter on this subject, written by the peerless critic, the late Rev. Doctor Alexander Carson, of TuL ormore. For, notwithstanding the fact that the doct ne which I advocate is sustained by axioms, it is to me wonder- fully assuring, that it has passed with approval through the crucible of Carson's most critical mind. X PREFACE. I feel constrained to say in the words of a masterly Canadian writer, the Rev. Robert J. Laidlaw, of Hamilton, that " To detect and expose the falseness that may have gathered about the religion of one's day, requires more than penetration, it demands ex- traordinary courage. It is easy to go forward to iace physical danger, fighting in a cause which the whole community approves. A man can march right onward then, knowing that the worst the enemy can do is to kill the body. But when, for the love of Christ, a man takes issue with his best friends and despises the opinions of the whole world, and telJs his own conscience that it has been mis- taken, asking him to belie \^e in things that are false; when to go forward is not only to go alone, but to go making rude war upon what men call sacred things, tearing them down, not knowing what structure shall be reared in their stead ; to go when the enemy seems to have power to kill the soul — this is what demands courage worthy of the i. ame. " You shall find men thick as acorns in autumn who PREFACE. * will waHe neck-deep in blood and charge up to the cannon's mouth when it rains shot as snowflakes at Christmas. Such men may be had for red coats, dollars and fame. It requires only vulgar bravery for that, and men who are food for powder. But to oppose the institution which your fathers loved in centuries gone by ; to sweep off the altars, forms and • usages that ministered to your mother's piety, helped her bear the bitter ills and crosses of life, and gave her wdnged tranquillity in the hour of death ; to sunder your ties of social sym^at n}^, destroy the rites asso- ciated with the aspiring dream of childhood and its earliest prayer, and the sunny days of youth — to disturb these because they weave chains, invisible but despotic, which bind the heart ; to hew down the hoary tree under whose shadow the nations played the game of life, and found in death the clod of the valley sweet to their weary bosom; to destroy all this because it poisons the air and stifles the breath of the world — it is a sad and a bitter thing ; it makes the heart throb, and the face that is hard ::A' Xll PREFACE. as iron all over in public, weeps in private, weak woman's tears, it may be. Such trials are not for vulgar souls; they feel not the riddle of the world." MooREPiELD, Ontario, Canada, August 2nd, 1880. 1 CONTENTS. \'\ " • - PAGE Preface „ v CHAPTER I. The Agreement and the Disagreement of Christians Delineated • • 17 V CHAPTER II. The Divisions among Christians Examined and Ex- plained — The Power of Facts 30 CHAPTER III. The Importance of having Right Principles of In- terpretation Illustrated 41 y CHAPTER IV. The Difficulties to be Encountered 52 CHAPTER V. Facts and Examples Examined . , . . , 63 * XIV CONTENTS. I CHAPTER VI. Facts which are not Examples . . , . PAGE . 78 CHAPTER VII. Facts which are Examples .. 85 CHAPTER VIII. The External Unity op the Church Exemplified.. 93 CHAPTER IX. The Present and Prospective Condition of Christ's Kingdom f '■"*■**'" ].04 CHAPTER X. ' — • ■V:a-V; :;;^^ Facts which Presumptively Prove the Unity of Christ's Kingdom 114 CHAPTER XI. Close Communion Misrepresents the Holy Ghost.. 122 CHAPTER XII. ;.,,/:-;)fev>.-. •- Fearless Integrity an Essential Qualification m Accomplishing all Reformations 129 % CONTENTS. XV APPENDICES. # ■■'' APPENDIX A. PAGE The late Dr. Cabson and his Church at Tubber- MORE 14J : APPENDIX B. " The Life of Rev. Alex. Carson, LL.D." 153 APPENDIX C. ■ 'v :■ ;; >: '- Rev. Dr. Wills' Letter 164 APPENDIX D. God's Word the only Standard of Appeal. . ...... 169 : ^ APPENDIX E. Sectarianism, a Human Device 175 APPENDIX a The Relative Position of Ordinances 183 % BIGOTRY DEMOLISHED. CHAPTER I. « THE AGREEMENT AND THE DISAGREEMENT OF CHRISTIANS DELINEATED. Agreements and differences among Christians delineated — What Juvenal says about the Jewish bigotry — God's Tvays and works mysterious — Revealed things alone belong to man — Secret things to God — A prying disposition sinful — The duty of investigating all religious subjects — Christ's kingdom both uniform and multiform, fully united on all essentials, yet disagreeing about almost all non-essentials — All believe in man's weakness and destitution and slavery of sin, and in Jesus Christ as the Saviour together with the doctrines of Regeneration and Sanctification by the Holy Ghost — Agreeing about all essentials and differing about non-essentials — A paradox — Dr. Alexander Carson considered this the greatest of all mysteries — Dr. Carson's letter to Rev. Spencer Murch on Christian union and against the sentiments and practice of the Close Communion Baptists. ^;/'^; ■; ; ■ _ L. -.1. :.' -^ .-^-- ■--' ■'.',■- '' ...'_' f ' R. RYAN, in liis "Religion of Mankind," says, ''Juvenal says that the Jews were so in- human and bigoted that they would not point out 18 CHRiSTiAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. l! the road to a stranger nor a fountain to a thirsty person unless he had been circumcised." How mysterious are the works and ways of God ! Everything non-essential to the earthly existence and the eternal felicity of His people is shrouded in darkness. And it is easier to realize, than it is to accept joyfully, the fact disclosed by the prophet, viz., that " revealed things belong to us and to our children, but unrevealed things belong to the Lord." Doubtless man's prying curiosity is sinful, especially is it so, when prurient, or self-aggrandizing. Cer- tainly those who discard mystery^ either in creation or religion, are sinfully unwise. Those who will be- lieve nothing, because they can not comprehend everything, must suffer the dire consequences of their contumacy. To trench on the limits, or to endeavour to over-leap the lines which circumscribe revelation must be reprehensible. But it can trench, on no divine right, nor can it contravene any law of Heaven, to take a microscopic view of Christ's king- dom. Contemplation and penetration when thus bestowed, can not be otherwise than legitimate, and although painful, it must be profitable. ^ -t ^ fimiSTTAN AGREEMENTS AND DtSAGUEEMENTS. 10 Here we behold a kingdom which is, at the same time, both uniform and multiform. It is one and yet many ! It consists in perfect unity and yet in great diversity. L uited in the belief and adoption of all the fundamental doctrines of Christianity without a solitary exception and still holding most tenaciously precepts, principles and ordinances, which are dia- metrically opposed one to the other. United on all essentials ! Dis-united on almost all non-essentials ! Now, in order to illustrate, it may not be amiss to promulge a few of the essential doctrines on which a perfect unanimity prevails. Therefore, I would re- mark first, that all Christians are agreed in their recognition of the existence of Jehovah, the Al- mighty God, consisting, mysteriously, of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Here their credence is plenary and as unequivocal as it is universal. Whereas here, if anywhere, doubts to disturb and divergences to di- vide might be expected to arise. But there are none. For with the docility of children, all Christians re- cognise God their Creator, and God their Saviour ; both from the works of Creation and the Bible. 20 CHRISTIAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. Here the Churdi of (Jhrisfc is a unit. On this mys- terious, but essential revelation, nothing hetero- geneous, or discordant, can disturb their repose, or destroy their unanimity. For, although the fool hath said in his heart " There is no God ;" yet to all Christians the fact that there is an omniscient, omnipotent and an ever merciful God to guide, govern and protect, is to them light, joy and salvation. Secondly, all Christians agree in believing the humiliating doctrine of human depravity, viz., that there are by nature none righteous. This is an as- tounding fact. For the history of men, throughout all ages and all countries proves that all men are bom Pharisees. Self-righteousness is the most in- herent and prominent proclivity of human nature. Destitution, whether it appertain to that which is moral, physical, or financial, men naturally disown and discard. The turpitude ascribed by the Scrip- tures to their vices is by many of the unconverted considered extravagant exaggeration, or as altogether Utopian. It is well known that the doctrine of uni- versal human depravity has so enraged some self- t CHRISTIAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. 21 righteous sinners, that they have blasphemed the adorable name of Jehovah and have uttered the most malignant maledictions against the Biblo. And yet, it is to be presumed, that were all the saints in Christendom congregated, not one in- dividual of the countless hosl would endeavour to deny the mortifying doctrine that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There would, on this doctrine, be no discordant utterances from that vast multitude ; because it would contain, not a solitary advocate of the moral dignity of human nature. May we not well ask, therefore, what but God's grace could have, on such a doctrine, secured unanimity from those myriads, composed of all nations, tribes and languages. --n Thirdly, all Christians agree in recognising the Lord Jesus Christ, " God manifest in the flesh," as their Redeemer. All acknowledge that their manu- mission from sin, Satan and eternal punishment, could not have been effected by such corruptible things " as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ." 22 CHRISTIAN AORERMENTS AND DISAfJREKMKNTR. What a huiuiliating ductrino ! It certainly im- plies the most degrading vassalage. A vassalage of the soul instead of the body ; a vassalage which is co-eval with eternity instead of time. It is tlic slavei-y of guilt ; instead of that which is superin- duced I)}' indigence, or tyranny. The condition of an earthly slave is certainly the lowest guiitless position which a man can occupy. But the slave, neverthe- less, may be capaple of cultivating all the virtues. He may be a man of fidelity and through the grace of God he may possess the peace that passeth under- standing, together with the hope which entails life - everlasting. ^ But wretched and degrading as human slavery is, what is it when compared with the direful slavery of sin ? Both sin and Satan divest man of all moral beauty. His spiritual vision is darkness : his moral rectitude is obliqueness : his volition is enthralled and his vaunted strength is but weakness. But that which is still more lamentable is, that his vassalage renders him oblivious to his doleful degradation. " ' Hereby we discern the marvellousness of God's grace, ^ CHIUSTIAN AOUEKMKNTS AND DTSAOREEMENTS. 23 which HO diHcnthrals, regenerates and enlivens, that ihosc who were once dead in trespasses and sins are brought to accept of pardon and justification tlirough the obedience and suffering of Jesus Christ as their Substitute and Enfranchiser. And instead of being ashamed of this humiliation, it is to them the apex of honour and dignity. Instead of degra- dation, it is their glory. Hark ! how rapturously and harmoniously they all sing :— " In the cross of Christ I glory, ' Towering o'er the heights of time, ^ AH the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime ! " I would remark, fourthly, that they are all agreed in recognising the doctrine of Regeneration and all the other doctrines and duties which are essential to salvation. And that which seems most wonderful about this unanimity is, that it is both unconscious and voluntary. Compulsion, or coercion, is non-exis- tent. Faith in the gospel of God, as revealed by his Spirit in the Word and the love of Christ, silently and effectually consummate this glorious agreement 24 CHRISTIAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. How marvellous! men and women of all ages, of all countries, of all tribes, of all grades of intellect and education, and of all station;^ in society, from the ' king to the beggar, unanimously and universally, unconsciously and voluatarily assentino^ to doctrines which are both mysterious and humiliating seems truly marvellous 1 '{< I would remark, fifthly, that the differences and divergences of Christians are pre-eminently astound- ing. Surely, if the unanimity which exists amongst all Christians, regarding essentials, seems marvel- lous, certainly their divisions, because of minor matters, must be immeasurably more marvellous. For although, Feltham's theory respecting our mun- dane system has been denominated " glorious " be- cause he says that " the whole creation is kept together by discord, and that vicissitude maintains the world, inasmuch as, cloud and rainbow appear together," the discord which pervades Sion may yet well be termed inglorious. What an unexampled paradox ? What an inexplicable mystery ? Agree- ing on all essentials, disagreeing about almost all non- essentials. ■'■■--'}'■'. . - ""' ",,/^'.'''';':^."-.Y^- ■■;:;';' -^■■"''^■^^ ■■-": v ^- '#- CimiSTIAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. 25 Is it at all surprising that thiy glaring anomaly, this apparently unnecessary and unsightly disloca- tion in the body of Christ, should appear to be an unravelable mystery in the judgment o^ men of the mightiest intellect ? It is well known that Dr. Alexander Carson, the great metaphysician and pro- found critic, frequently declared "that of all mysteries the fact that God permits His people to be divided and to fight against one-another was, to his mind the greatest mystery." • No more appropriate introduction can be given to my thoughts, and no more powerful confirmation can be given to my arguments, than the following letter (hitherto unpublished) from the pen of that re- nowned scholar and consecrated author* : — " TUBBERMORE, Sept. 27th, 1841. "Dear Sir, •" I have received your two letters, and your re- ply to , for which I return you my sincere thanks. I am highly pleased with your strictures. I hope they will be of great service in the cause of * See Appendix A. I )g 26 CHRISTIAN AGREEMF.NTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. truth. I earnestly advise you to go on with the study of the Eastern languages, especially the Syriac. For this is a new field in which you will be able to labour with great advantage, detecting the error" and ignorance of those pretenders who, from this source, are endeavouring to bring darkness over light .... With respect to the reception of unbaptized persons into churches, I observe that you are in doubt. There is no subject on which I am more clear ; and I do not find myself in the least entangled by anything which I have advanced in my answer to Mr. Ewing. The practice of the first churches, I think myself bound to follow in every instance ; but it never was their practice to reject unbaptized persons. The whole mistake arises from a false view of what is an example. A fact that could not be otherwise cannot be an example. It no believer, in the times of the Apostles, was igno- rant of baptism, the fact that all persons in the Church were baptized can be no example to reject unbaptized persons. CHRISTIAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. 27 " To be an example, it would be necessary that the persons entering should be questioned on this sub- ject. V/hen Paul essayed to join the Church at Jerusalem, they refused him, fearing he was not a disciple. This fact is an example, warranting us to refuse every one who does not give evidence of discipleship ; but we never hear of any person asked as a condition of uniting himself with a church, were you baptized ? ' " We do not need an example to warrant us to re- ceive unbaptized persons. We have precept for it. We demand either precept or example for every- thing; but we do not demand both for the same thinix. Now, Rom. xiv. 1, and xv. 7, command us to receive every Christian ; even the weakest. Bap- tism has reference to the truth believed, into which we are baptized, and has no reference to a church. Of all things, it has the least show of an obstacle to admission into a church. It is not practised in the church at all. If at any time it is performed in the place of meeting, it is no part of the ordinances of the church. - («■ 28 CHRISTIAN AGREEMENTS AND DISAGREEMENTS. > 1 " I believe that the first churches practised saluta- tion. I may as well argue that no person should be admitted or retained in a church who does not practise this ordinance ; and the same may be said with respect to everything in the churches. But to me, it is self-evident that every believer should be admitted to unite in everything which he under- stands. ':' :. '';.'''>::/■■:; ' .:■' ''^''"''"' " '^''■:-'' /'■,:r ,[;-'::-pi:. ■-■■■'-' " It cannot be possible that the Heavenly Father will refuse the weakest child the food that is good for him, because, from his weakness, he will not take that which is disagreeable. Besides, if baptism is necessary to unite a church, and if Christ knew that a great multitude of His people would not under- stand this, then different sects are unavoidable. Christ must have intended to have sects, and can anything be more clearly evident than that the man who has fellowship with God, may have fellowship witii the Lord's Church on earth. If God bears with his ignorance, may not we bear with that ignorance ? I have been written to by several of my friends on this subject, but have uniformly declined to answer, \ ^^J\ : CHRISTIAN AGREEMENTS ANT) DISAGREEMENTS. 21) that I might not be obliged to come forward on that while engaged in so many other controversies .... " I hope God will direct you, and I earnestly re- quest you not to be rash, for I have known many who have rashly gone into this opinion, who after- wards gave it up. " Most tndy yours, * * "Alex. Carson. " Rev. Spencer Murch, Stepney College, London." <-<, CHAPTER II. THE DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS EXAMINED AND EXPLAINED— THE POWER OF FACTS. What Lord Thurlow says about tho power of facts— Chris- tendom has continued, divided because of ignorance or cul- pability — Ignorance preferable to wilful disobedience — Christians guilty of ignorance instead of disobedience — Expediency the plea of nany sects — It is otherwise with the Close Communion Baptists — They believe exclusive- ness to be an imperative duty — Their ideas of Apostolic example are unfounded — Their scruples to be respected — Many of them sorry for the exclusiveness of tlieir princi- ples — Their pathway is both solitary and friendless — Chris- tians resemble pilgrims in a wilderness and an army in an enemy's country — The signs of the times hopeful — The re-union of Methodists and Presbyterians auspicious — The - iron rigidity of the Close Communion Baptists — Carson considered close communion unjust — He did not found his practice on liberality — Bigotry founded on the wisdom of men — He was grieved because baptism is made a test of communion — Christian reciprocity sustained by self- evidence — Even small errors dangerous — The practice of .« DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. ai the Church at Tubbermore— Rev. Mr. Lorimer's letter- Members of that Church still believe and practise infant baptism. /,, _,; ,;:..v;:'::;.v-j '•:; ■■'^;' 'r iJ^ORD THURLOW says: "I have seen the most <5=r-» eloquent speakers in the House of Commons struck dumb by a fact." The sects and denomina- tions which have continued age after age, throughout Christendom prove demonstratively that God's people have been either culpably disobedient or lamentably ignorant. Either horn of the dilemma is as sad as it is reproachful. There is, however, an extenuating difference ; because ignorance, however gross, is pre- ferable to diso1?edicnce, howsoever trivial. - In the judgment of the writer, it requires no stretch of charity to believe, that those unsightly divisions have been produced by misapprehension, instead of wilful disobedience. For it is to be presumed that all Protestant denominations, except the Close Com- munion Baptists, think that union, division, or isola- tion, are matters which, to the churches, are alto- gether optional. 1^ And there are even many amongst those diversi- rat' i DIVISIONS AMONG C'llRlSTlANS, ETC I 'i fied sects, who really believe, however fantastic, or incredible it may appear to others, that a divided Christendom is preferable to a united Christendom ! Their plea, as they offer no apology for sects and denominations is, that as a matter of rivalship, a divided Church will do more for the enlargement and establishment of Christ's Kingdom, than if all were of the same name and worshipped before the same shrine. And unfortunately, the argument is far more fatal in its consequences, than it is logical in its deductions. Yet it is sufficient to satisfy mil- lions upon millions of the most conscientious Chris- tians. But as regards the Close Communion Baptists^ it certainly is otherwise ivith tJiem. Their rule of ex- clusiveness and isolation 'proceeds not from optional, or discretionary, laws. They deem their eocclusive- ness to he a most imperative duty. They consider themselves hound hy tlmt which they presume to be an Apostolic example to do as they are doing without even a fractional deviation. DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. 33 And it is presumable that many of the large- hearted among that great denomination are often sorry that their fanciful restrictive law is so circum- scribing. Nevertheless, it were most devoutly to be wishedHhat those conscientious people were mani- festly pursuing their solitary journey Heavenward with more signs of regretfulness, because of their having been doomed to obey this chilling, friendless and lonesome law of isolation. For, truthfully, a very sequestered and a very solitary pathway must theirsbe ! How sombre and sorrowful is the lot of such a brave, though mistaken people ! To see a band of pilgrims separated perpetually and unnecessarily from the mighty hosts of the Lord, is a sight which is both ungainly and ghastly. " ^ v More seemly it would be, to divide a caravan when crossing an arid wilderness, or to separate an army whilst passing through an enemy's country, than to divide God's children when on their homeward jour- ney. In truth and verity, it verges closely on incom- prehensible insanity. c «i^ 34 DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. li i ':i i So with an army, division or isolation generally re- sults in utter destruction. Hence the efforts of con- summate generals to have their men and munitions of war well protected by van and rear guards. But the signs of the times are hopeful^ They augur well for the unity of Zion in the immediate future. The recont auspicious union, which has been effected among the hitherto disjointed portions of the Methodist and Presbyterian bodies, renders it easily perceivable, that their differences and divis- ions resulted not from principle, but from feeling. Therefore, so far as those and other denominations are concerned, there can be no insuperable difficulty in the way of Universal Christian Reciprocity, or perfect external unity, being consummated immedi- ately among all saints. Those who believe, that the King of Zion has left it as an optional matter with his subjects to march Heavenwards either in small bands, companies, battalions, regiments, or as one united formidable army, may, perchance, be easily persuaded to j oin the great phalanx. , , Unfortunately, it is otherwise with the Close fl I ) I DIVISIONS AMONO CHRISTIANS, ETC. 35 Communion Baptisis. The iron rigiaity of their exclusive principle is the mountain in the way. The great effort of the writer must, therefore, be expended toward.s the removal of that mountain. But were 1 polemic, I would by no means undertake so arduous a task. The legitimate laws of controvemy would enable me to cast the burden of proof on my es- . teemed Baptist brethren. They affirm, that an Apostolic fact is an example ' which I might only larily and good-naturedly deny' But would this be heavenly or Christ-like, as I be- I.eve those dear brethren to be conscientiously mis- taken as to what constitutes an example ? No ! And lest our esteemed friends should consider that I charge them exclusively, with ignorance of that which constitutes an example, let it be distinctly understood that the charge of ignorance on this sub- ject IS equally as applicable to all other denomina- tions. Vouchers in proof of this statement can be easily produced from the writings of the most eminent Psedobaptists. Both Drs. Miller and Hally, when 36 DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. ■ m writing against the Baptists, having charged the latter with inconsistency in not having unleavened bread at the Lord's Supper, have shown what mis- taken ideas they also hold, about that which consti- tutes an example. ' Dr. Carson considered close communion not only illiherality hut injustice. . "Liberality of sentiment," says Carson, " is not a phrase which I admit into my religious vocabulary, for though I love and acknowledge all who love the Lord Jesus, I hold myself as much under the law of God in embracing all the children of God as in form- ing the articles of my creed. My recognition of all Christianas, I ground on the authority of Jesus. To set at naught the weakest of Christ's little ones I call not illiberal, but unchristian." And when writing in the name of his church, at Tubbermore, to a Church at New York, he said : " The union of all who be- lieve in the Lord Jesus is a thing for which we a^'e most deeply interested, and the almost total want of it among the churches of Christ, that we deem on i, mVIStONR AMONO CFiniHTrANS, KTC. 37 tho Whole „cH.o.t to the .uodel of the first 'Jhurch i« a thing that causes to us the most unfeigned sor-' row. If that brotherly intercourse and earnest care for each other that subsisted among the churd-s in the days of the Apostles is not now to be found among those who profess to follow their practice as tar as it was approved by Jesus, the causes ought to be sought and removed. In our opinion the chief of those causes is not the difference of sentiment, great, and greatly to be deplored, as this is, but is owing to the exercise of an authority never conferred on the churches by the Lord Jesus to refuse or exclude, for difference of sentiment, any of those who give evi- dence that they have been bought by the blood of Christ. Ignorance of any divine institution is an evil, and must be felt as such by a church as faraa it exists' in any of the body. But the question is,_What is God's way of getting rid of the evil ? We believe from Phil. iii. 15, and numerous other passages to which there is not room to refer in this hotter, that it is by forbearance, affectionate instruction and prayer. Many, on the contrary, have thought that ! 1 38 DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. Mist the most effectual way to make a disciple receive an ordinance of Jesus, is to refuse him fellowship till he has complied. Notwithstanding all we have heard in favour of this plan, we still deem it the wisdom of man. Accordingly we have found that God has made foolish this wisdom. Long has it been tried without success: and of late, in some parts of Ireland., it has been carried so far that some individuals can scarcely find a second to unite with them in constant fellowship. It detracts then considerably from the joy with ivhich we should have received your letter, that we find no notice tahevu of this subject, but on the contrary, that you seem to make Baptism a term of communion. We all deem that a man who has been received by Jesus ought not to be rejected by us : and that if He feed His people by His ordinan- ces, it would be criminal in us, as far as in our power, to join in a confederacy to starve the weakest of them. We think that a man who has been admitted to the fellowship of the ' general assembly and Church of \ the first-born ' is undoubtedly worthy of a seat with us : recollecting that if it be sinful to receive any DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. 39 that Christ has forbidden, it is also sinful to refuse any that He has received. There is no safe side in error ! That Jesus will not approve of refusing fel- lowship to any of His brethren, known to be such, appears to us to have the irresistible light of self- evident truth. " The church of the late Rev. Dr. Alex. Carson, at Tubbermore, in the Province of Ulster, has alvays exemplified Christian reciprocity and external unity. Having written for information on the subject to the Rev. Wm. Lorimer, who presides over a branch Church at Tubbexmore, the following extract from his letter will speak for itself:— " Tubbermore, 15th Oct., 1877.* Rev. George C. Moore, Dearly beloved Brother in Jesu8,—Yours of the 9th instant has been received. I am glad you are writing on Communion. You may unhesitatingly state that from the early days of the church, under the Doctor, several of the first members have re- See Appendix A. r KHWn 40 DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS, ETC. luained ever since unbaptized, being satisfied that be- ing sprinkled in infancy was quite enough. Not only this, but some of them even got their own children sprinkled by the parish minister of the State Church. One of these families I can myself produce in proof of this. And I am sure I shall be able to discover more. " I don't know what they practise iin aoi the pre- sent Carson ; but with us the old principle is car- ried out as in the days of the dear Doctor, — that is, — that baptism is an individual ordinance for individ- ual Cliristians as such, irrespective of church fellow- ship altogether, and would have been the same if there never had been a Church on earth." r : ■.■\'-y CHAPTER III. THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING RIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION ILLUSTRATED. " It is one thing to assert a fact, but it is another thing to account philoso- phically for such fact." The importance of Principles of Interpretation — Non-essen- tials not to be despised — Whatever is not commanded is for- bidden — Axioms applicable to theology — Man's statements need vouchers — What Dr. Johnson says of mixed languages — My axiom regarding Baptism and the Lord's Supper — Dr. Howell the mouthpiece of the Close or restricted Bap- tists — Baptism his badge of discipleship — Dr. Howell mis- takes facts for examples — Baptism a flimsy vestment — The Close Communion Baptists are Puseyites — The very learned and most pious Bishop Hall, his opinions and inculcations — The late Rev. Dr. Samuel Wills' delineation in his workon Christian ordinances of writers on both sides of this contro- versy, viz. , Dr. John Gill and Abraham Booth, John Bun- yan and his Pilgrim's Progress, Roger Williams and the honoured Robert Hall. WOULD remark 1st, that many teach and act as though things, which are termed non-essen- tial, were unworthy of any thoughtfulness. If the ip.-- 42 RIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. M soul escape the abyss of woe, and be insured a plaiCe in heaven, they seem to think that they may well forego every minor consideration. How abject ! How very delusive ! Why, if God has been pleased to reveal some parts of His will by types, tropes, or examples, it certainly behoves His people, to endeavour to un- derstand such tropes, types, or examples. Secondly, to mistake that which constitutes an ex- ample, may cause us to do that which is not com- manded and consequently that which is forbidden, ** for whatsoever is not commanded is forbidden." In ascertaining our duty as taught by example, Raphael's advice to Adam, "be slowly wise/' might be pondered with advantage ; for they are well known facts, that men, because of mistaking the figurative language, in which our Lord couched some of His pre- cepts, have, most inhumanly, plucked out a right eye and cut off a right arm ; whilst others, in their blind zeal to obey the commission — " Preach the Gospel to every creature " — have absolutely declaimed to birds, beasts and fishes. What sorrowful and ludicrous pictures ! BIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. 43 I would remark thirdly, that the interpretation of Scripture can be neither definite nor satisfactory un- til self-evident principles are employed. Axioms are as applicable to some theological truths as they are to those of philosophy and mathematics. The re- marks, assertions and observations, of fallible men generally need vouchers. Unless religious teachers can herald their utterances and commentations by a " thus saith the Lord," or present first principles in confirmation of their deductions, neither conviction nor conversion can be expected as the sequence. Therefore the writer would make an inroad on the disputed territory by stating that which appears to be a rule of interpretation, as clear as the light of day, viz. : That to make obedience to one law, or or- dinance, necessary before obeying another law or or- dinance, requires the existence of a third law, or or- dinance, to point out and enforce such a necessity. By way of analogy, I would refer to that which Dr. Johnson says of mixed languages. « A mixture ^ of two languages," writes the great lexicographer, * Whately. •I 44 RIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. " will produce a third language distinct from both." And so I say respecting the amalgamation of Bap- tism and the Lord's Supper. To make obedience to one ordinance, invariably the precursor to the other, or that which entitles to the other, must necessarily produce another law distinct from. both. But Dr. Howell, who is the advocate and mouth- piece of the Close Communion Baptists, both of Am- erica and Great Britain, absolutely metamorphoses a mere fact into such a law. " We think," he says, " our Psedobaptist brethren Christians and we treat then^ as such. We regulate our thoughts and actions in both cases by the laws of Christ. One of those laws requires us to judge of men by their fruits and another obliges us to admit to the communion only baptised believers. We can receive them in the way only which Christ has prescribed." And again he says, " baptism without a profession of faith is justi- fied as readily as the administration of the Lord's Supper without baptism." How mindless do such utterances appear when emanating from a scholar ! I would remsirk, fourthly, that the laws by which RIGHT PBINCIPLES OF INTEHPEETATION. 45 Christ's disciples are guided and governed need to be plain and explicit. Dr. Howell and his party imagine themselves governed by a law which never existed. Possibly •n the course of this work, it will be plainly shown' that both himself and his followers h^ve no law for excluding any of Christ's moral disciples from church fellowship; and that they have no law to justify them in recognising aa Christians, any whom they pertinaciously and persistently refuse admission to the ordinances of the Lord. Finally, I would remark, that it must be more sinful to so aggrandize an ordinance, as to cause it to usurp the power or place of Regenera- tion, or Justification, than it would be to change its mode of administration, or to suppress, or supersede it "Itogether. ^|j. Are not the agency and influence of the Holy Ghost in Regeneration and Sanctification and the im- puted Righteousness of Christ in justifying of more impoi-tonce to a sinner than are all the ordinances ? What can be more lamentably subversive of the 46 RIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. essential truths of the gospel than the following emendations ? — " It would not be seemly," says Dr. Howell, " to receive into our family a man destitute of garments. But it is equally uncomely to introduce to the Lord's table those who are not furnished with the vestments of the former ordinance. We have no right until Christ shall call us hence, to lay aside the habiliments with which He has supplied us and which He has commanded us to wear." What a flimsy vestment and what a poor habili- ment is Baptism ! What little solace such senti- ments can afford in the hour of death ! Alas ! that Puseyism should exist at other places besides Oxford and Rome. How refreshing it is to listen to the erudite Dr. Wardlaw, and to the gYe$Jt, Bishop Hall. " A Chris- tian," says Dr. Wardlaw, "before he becomes a Baptist, is a Christian, as well as afterwards. If he refuse to commune with a Psedobaptist, it is refus- ing to commune with his former self. " The Apostle also shows that Jews and Gentiles RIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. 47 le were to forbear with one another as to days, meats, &c It requires a little diffidence of self and a little confidence in others : a portion of liberality and a portion of charity." What a contrast there exists between the senti- ments expressed by some in this nineteenth century and those of Bishop Hall early in the seventeenth, who recommends Christians to put a charitable con- struction on the opinions and conduct of each other, and not disregard those who varied from them in matters of opinion concerning some appendages of religion and outward forms of administration, as if they had forfeited their Christian professions and were utter aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; though, in the meantime, sound at the heart, endea- vouring to walk close with God in all their ways. " Whereas the Father of all mercies allows a gracious latitude to His children in all, not forbidden paths. Beware, ye my dear brethren, lest while we follow the chase of zeal, we outrun charity ; without which piety itseK would be but unwelcome. " Whosoever he he that holds the faith which was ■'U. r 48 RIGHT PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. once delivered to the Saints, agreeing with ua in all fundamental truths, let him he received as a brother y The Rev. Dr. Wills says, " In later days we cannot lose sight of such men as Dr. John Gill and Abraham Booth. But their strong love of party led them to display their weakness. We must ever look upon all men — the best of men — the profoundest reasoners and the soundest theo- logians — as coming in some respects under the in- fluence of natural dispositions. This weak point will show itself somewhere, and did we not carefully bear this in mind, the religious world would be more paradoxical to us than it is already, and surely that need not be. John Gill, the champion of doctrinal truth and restricted communion, was naturally of a dogmatical construction of mind. It suited his na- tural temperament to be rigid and exclusive ; a great and godly man, but not less a lover of party and the leader of a sect ; conscience, however, would not let him be this, did he not consider the position to be according to the will of God. But th© mind, from natural constitution, might be wooed to this t BIOHT HIINCIPLE^F INTEUPRETATI„N. 49 conclusion, and by a ?h^u^Z^^^^^^~o^~ where the premises were false, though so good and great a man, he erred. No one can read what he has written without discovering the positive way in which he advances his sentiments; and there is not a chdd acquainted with the Scriptures but what would be able to combat his views upon the Church Baptism. Lord's Supper, &c. He makes strong a. ' sertions, but adduces no proof in support. He often sets down his views as though he were stating what Chnst had commanded, when he has no foundation whatever in the Scripture. So with Abraham Booth. He is viewed by the advocates of restricted communion as the unanswer- able defender of their faith and practice. All who have since him written upon the subject have taken his Ideas, and when they have departed it has been most evidently to expose the weakness of their posi- tion. But what candid individual who reflects when reading Abraham Booth's "Apology for the Bap- tists," does not discover the fabric of the mind that could dictate such a production? His assertions of f 50 RIGHT PRINCIPLES OP INTERPRETATION. the undeniable truth of his positions are strong juat in proportion as they are defenceless, and he starts upon premises utterly devoid of foundation in truth. He, too, puts himself forward, as is justly observed by Robert Hall, as the champion in the cause of the Baptists. As if there were unanimity of sentiment upon the one point he proposes to sustain and defend, he calls it an " A.pology for the Baptists;" and yet the "whole production is against Baptists who differ in their views from him. Is not such ^ipl&^r of the mind of Abraham Booth enough to show how in- adequate he was to such a task, when we consider the bias his mind could take of the circumstances of the Baptists in the title of his book ? The vener- able Booth was a godly man — a star of no small magnitude, shining with the grace of his Lord in His day on earth — ^but his " Apology for the Baptists" is the weakness of the man. Having noticed the above men on the side of re- stricted communion, we must not forget on the other side one or two liberal souls, as great and good as have already been referred to. Who can John Bu„yan-as much a Baptist as a Gill or a Booth, but breathing the spirit of his Lord and Master in favour of open com„.unio„ . We nxust do h,.s memory honour in this noble liberality of his soul, as much aa for the singular and inimitable producfonof his " Pilgrim's Progress," known and ryarded the wide civilized world through. Roger Wilhams. renowned in the history of liberty civil and religious, in both England and America, where he took a noble part in struggles worthy of his noble soul. Then the celebrated Robt. Hall, with giant mind po^essed acquirements and unrivalled o.tory. laid' hold of the horns of restricted communion, and '^^^^^^^^J^^or^tev^^ complete shadow (»). * See Appendix C. CHAPTER IV. i: THE DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. M ij V- Difficulties of Archbishop Whateley and opinions respecting them — Truth harder to be proved than error — Livingstone on the dividing line — Whateley on Analogy and Examples — Sound judgment and discrimination necessary in observing differences— Four things necessary to constitute Facts into Examples, two positive and two negative, viz. , they must ex- hibit both choice and design, and not be the effect either of contingency or of necessity — Gen. Scott and his defeated army at Niagara — Some facts proceed from a moral necessity, others from ceremonial and others from positive laws — The Lord Jesus was thus subjected — The Apostle Peter forgot or was ignorant of these facts — The Jews were similarly circumstanced — Having unleavened bread at the first sup- per a Fav^t, but not an Example — That which would have constituted it an Example — Those who celebrated the first supper, having been circumcisod, not an Example — Dr. Campbell's opinion of bigots and bigotry. »HE writer fully concurs in the sentiment ex- l 3ssed by the late Archbishop Whateley, who says that " It will often happen before a popu- n I DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. 53 m n lar audience a greater degree of skill is requisite for ma-intaining the cause of truth than falsehood. There are cases in which the arguments which lie most on the surface are to superficial reasoners the most easily set forth in a plausible form, and are those on the wrong side. It is often difficult to a writer, and still more to a speaker, to point out and exhibit in their full strength the delicate distinctions on which truth sometimes depends." And Livingstone, a noted Scotch writer, says that " Truth is separated from error by a small, thin partition, like the edge of a razor, but God's truth lies on one side, the devil's lies on the other." The erudite Dr. Whateley also delineates the difficulties which beset the doctrine of Examples. " In this kind of argument," he says, " one error which is very common, and which is to be sedulously avoided, is that of concluding the things in question to be alike, because they are ana- lagous ; to resemble each other In themselves, be- cause there is a resemblance in the relation they bear to certain other things ; which is manifestly a groundless inference.. Another caution is applicable m^7- ! 54 DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. f- f _i_ 1 to the whole class of arguments from Examples, viz.: not to consider the resemblance or analogy to ex- tend further (i. e. to more particulars) than it does." "Sound judgment and vigilant caution are nowhere more called for than in observing what differences do and what do not nullify the analogy between two cases. And the same may be said in regard to the applicability of precepts or acknowledged decisions of any kind, such as Scripture precepts, &;c. ; all of which, indeed, are, in their essence, of the nature of Examples, since every recorded declaration, or in- junction (of admitted authority) may be regarded in connection with the person to whom and the occa- sion on which it was delivered as a known case ; from which, consequently, we may reason to any other parallel case : and the question which we must be careful in deciding will be, to whom and to what it is applicable. For a seemingly small circumstance will often destroy the analogy so as to make a pre- cedent or precept inapplicable." Let it be explicitly understood that facts which constitute examples must invariably and consti- DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. 55 tuently exemplify four things, viz. : 1st, they must exemplify choice ; 2nd, design ; and, 3rd, they must not result from necessity ; 4th, nor be the effect of mere contingency. Mansfield, in his " Life of Scott," says, that before General Scott surrendered to the British in Canada, he ascended a log and addressed his soldiers : " Let us then die, arms in hand ; our country demands the sacrifice ; the example will not be lost ; the blood of the slain will make heroes of the living." The fact embodied in General Scott's resolution is a thorough exemplification of that wiich constitutes an example. It manifested both choice and design, and was the effect neither of necessity nor of contin- gency. I would, therefore, remark, 1st, That many things were mere matters of necessity — even to the Lord Jesus Christ, there existed a moral necessity. His attributes, and the great work which He came to accomplish, rendered many of His observances, acts and utterances absolute necessities. He could not have been other than the Holy, Harmless and Unde- i ti I : ■ i ! \ 56 DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. ^ filed. And because of His covenant engagements it became necessary for Him to die (see Heb. ii. 10, 14, 17; John xi. 49). Peter, in his blind zeal, disclainied this principle. When his Master talked of dying, he exclaimed, " Not so, Lord, be it far from Thee." Peter seemed to have forgotten that not one jot or tittle could have been left unfulfilled of all that had been predicted of Him by the prophets of Jehovah. 2nd, There existed a necessity which resulted from both positive and ceremonial laws. This may be termed a positive and ceremonial ne- cessity. Such necessities pressed heavily upon the Jews, and even the gospel dispensation is not exempt, e.g.: Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and other ordi- nances are binding on all Christians by positive laws. Our gracious Bedeemer, as a Jew, submitted to the law of positive necessity. He was circum- cised. He observed the Jewish Sabbath. He at3 tended the feasts. He ate the Passover and He went to the synagogue. DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. 67 View Him again, as the founder of the gospel kingdom, as the leader and representative of His people, with John in the Jordan ; saying, — " Thus, it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." His Jewish converts were similarly necessitated And His disciples throughout the past ages of His dispensation have been subject to the necessity en' forced by positive laws. Paul said, " Woe is me, if I preach not the gospel." And so it has continued, and will continue evermore. Now we can plainly see, that many things done by the Lord and His primitive disciples were neces- sarily done. They were not, in one sense, the effects of either choice or peradventure. 8rd. There existed also a circumstantial necessity; a necessity which emanated from time and place. It may suffice, as an exemplification of this fact, to allude to the unleavened bread, used at the insti- tution of the Lord's Supper. The memorative ordi- nance was instituted at the time of unleavened bread, and before the calling of the Gentiles. Had the Lord not instituted the Supper at the time of i 58 DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. •t : i: i the Passover, unleavened bread would not have been used ; and had it been after the conversion of Cornelius, the circumcised might not have been his only guests. Or had the Lord Jesus instituted this ordinance at a time when leavened bread was in use, and had He caused unleavened bread to be procured for the occasion, it would have manifested both choice and design, devoid of either necessity or contingency, and would have constituted an example to be strictly and stringently copied by His people, thenceforward and forever more. Or, had He caused leavened bread to have been procured as the material for the memorative meal, it would have manifested both His wish and will, and have demonstratively proved, that unleavened bread, was ineligible to re- present His once broken, though now glorified, body. The mere fact of the unleavened bread teaches us what we may do, but not at all what we must do. As concerns the bread, all is optional and nothing com- pulsory. Here I would remark that — 1. All who first partook of the Lord's Supper had \ DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. 59 \ been previously circumcised. Not one uncircumcised man was present. Is this fact an example t Is it possible to descry a particle of either choice or de- sign in the uttermost development of this fact ? I trow not. Neither could this fact have been caused by obedience to any moral law ; because moral obli- gations continue in perpetuity. 2. The fact of their having been circumcised is accounted for by the positive law which demanded their obedience to the Jewish rite : disobedience to it was a forfeiture of all blessing, and the precursor of death — see Gen. xvii. 14. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were circumcised, though they never ate either the Passover or the Lord's Supper. It is very easy to perceive, that the mere fact, that all who were guests at Christ's first supper, had been previously circumcised, betokens nothing, except that of una- voidable circumstances. Had the Lord any to com- municate with Him, they must have been circumcised, because there were none others. ljr«»l5F 60 DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOTTNTERED. REFLECTIONS. How true the trite maxim, — " That which we wish we easily believe." When reviewing my remarks about the unleavened bread, two things tended greatly to astonish me. viz., — 1st. Because some of the most thoughtful, devoted and learned Psedo- baptisfcs have considered the fact of unleavened bread having been used at the first supper, to be an example. So confident have even Doctors of Divinity felt themselves respecting the reality of this fancied ex- ample, that they have when; I suppose, half frenzied by controversy, flung, like a barbed arrow, their glaring omission of this unleavened bread example at the Restrictive Baptists. And 2nd. Because all the Close or Restrictive Baptists do not consider it an example. Here my astonishment is heightened. How mar- vellous is the wand which, by a touch, can metamor- phose one fact, into a living, dictatorial example ; and whose mere presence can annihilate all the pre- tensions to exampleahip of all other facts ! DIFFICULTIES TO BE ENCOUNTERED. 61 Truly and well has Dr. Geo. Campbell, the great critic, said " that it is to be regretted that we have so much evidence that even gooa and learned men allow their judgment to be warped by the senti- ments and customs of the sect which ^they prefer. The true partisan, of whatever denomination, al- ways inclines to correct the diction of the spirit by that of the party." But I am inclined to say of the Close Communion Baptists, as a great writer said of a sophistical advocate, " I admire the preacher, at the same time I condemn the doctrine." There is no sort of per- sons whose opinions one is more inclined to wish right than those who are ingenuously in the wrong, " who have the art to add grace to error, and can dig- nify mistakes." HI ■ j, i ■ CHAPTER V. FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. A true and a false idea of examples exemplified by the French woman and the editor of The Watchman and Bejlector — Open communion no infraction of moral law nor of positive law— Baptism and Lord's Supper not at all united, the one would exist were the other abrogated — Baptism not an' indispensable prerequisite — Both ordinances instructive and comforting — God has left nothing to be learned by conjecture, nor from priority of appointment — Baptism connected with the preaching of the Gospel — Philip and the Commission prove this — Not so with the Lord's Supper — Paul left Titus at Crete to teach — Why Baptism was made an immediate duty — Baptism an individual ordi- nance — The Supper is otherwise — Baptism can be attended to at all times and places — Not so with church ordinances — Sects have altered both the time and the mode of ad- ministering the ordinances — The Lord's Supper admin- istered origiually every Lord's day — Were monthly ad- ministrations of the Supper Scriptural, it would fortify my FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. 63 argument — The way in which I account for the assumed fact of Baptism having always preceded the Supper, different from all writers who have preceded me — The Baptists of America unconsciously becoming Puseyites — An Axiom — Presumptiveness. <^ OWE my country an example of firmness, and I will give it."* . " To say that we receive them (i. e., Saints) be- cause Christ does it, is saying that whatever Christ does is an example for our imitation, which is fal- laceous, because we cannot know the reason of His conduct, nor can we know what His conduct is in reference to given characters and individuals. He may receive multitudes that we are compelled to exclude, as he received the thief on the cross."f How transcendantly clear are the French womadi's ideas when contrasted with those expressed by the American advocate of restricted communion ! The one is light, the other is darkness. One is logic, the other is jargon. The learned ecclesiastic is totally eclipsed by the courtly dame. '4-1 * Madame Roland of France, A.D. 1795. t Watchman and Reflector^ April 17, 1851. 64 FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. Now, notwithstanding the tedium, and at the risk of being charged with redundancy and tautology, I must, still further, investigate this subject. And, therefore, 1st. I would ask the restrictive brethren whether, or not, all primitive Christians were baptized before they enjoyed church fellow- ship, because of any moral law ? But lest any should think that I speak as though I were ignorant of another fact, viz., that all Christians are bound, morally bound, to obey every law of God, whether positive or otherwise, I hereby avouch my faith. All are bou.: J, morally bound, to say with God's servants of old, "All that the Lord hath said we will do." But they cannot promise to do that which He has not said, or that which He has forbidden. Had God enacted a law which interdicted any Christian from associating with His people, prior to his bap- tism, that law, however arbitrary it might appear, every Christian would be morally constrained to obey. Nay, did the statute books of Zion but con- tain the merest suggestion or innuendo, inaudibly hinting that such were the Master's wish, every FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. 65 true follower of the Lamb, should instantly, and with ineffable delight, render due obedience. I would enquire, 2nd. Waa the fact caused by any positive law ? My discernment can discover no such precept. Nor do the Close Communion Baptists assume that there is. The question is put, however, in order to have the discriminating faculties of my readers invigorated. For had the opposing brethren, either moral or positive law to defend their ex- clusiveness, they would have blazoned that fact to the world, instead of sheltering themselves behind a nugatory, fanciful example. But they may, perhaps, remind us of the fact that baptism was anterior to almost all other ordinances, and that it was based on a positive law. • Well, this proves nothing but that which we be- lieve and teach. Its being right to be baptized, in obedience to a positive law, cannot prove it to ,be either right or wrong to obseive the Lord's Supper either before, or after, baptism. The positive law of baptism merely speaks for itself Each ordinance has a separate and distinct law. Children they are E , 66 FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. ,S 'I I 1 I M. of the same parentage, though not of the same age. Nevertheless, were the law of baptism abrogated, it could not cease to be the duty of all Christians to commemorate the dying love of Jesus. Or, had the King of Zion seen fit to revoke the memorative ordi- nance, it certainly could not cease to be the duty of His disciples to be baptized. But as the mole is said to be more sharp-sighted than the eagle, for half a quarter of an inch before it, so some discern- ing wight may yet bless us with a sight of this Utopian law. * To the writer it seems an incontrovertible fact, that the Jews, as Jews, would have been circumcised had the Passover never been instituted ; and that all believers, as believers, would originally have been baptized, had the ordinance of the Lord's Supper never been instituted. Is it not sufficient to refer for confirmation, if not demonstration, to Abraham, of the Jewish dispensation, and to the Eunuch, in ■T that of the Gospel ? .^ ^ Let us now enquire, why did baptism always pro- cede the Lord's Supper in the Primitive Churches ? r^: H .. v.; FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. 67 To account for this fact is the appropriate work of the Restrictive Baptists and of all other Protestant Churches who hold and teach that Bapt^ 2;; Is the initiatory rite. But hitherto they have dv ^terously avoided it. Indeed, nothing can be more cabalistic than the ideas which they have propoundeu rega,rd~ ing it. Yet, although it is neither my duty nor necessary to ray argumient, I will atterapt briefly to account for it. I would, therefore, remark 1st. Bap- tism may have been first instituted and first ob- served for many reasons unrovealed to us. But if the "Restrictive Baptists cannot prove that it was first instituted and first observed as an indis- pensable prerequisite, or as the door into the Church, it is bootless to their cause. As yet, however, this has not been done, except by unfounded assumption and giatuitous assertion. Nothing is more luminously shown, throughout all dispensations, than the fact that when God wished to teach His people any important duty, He never abandoned them to mystic assumption, or to mazy conjecture; (3.,9'.,witness the connection between M ' fs i i I'ACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. u ! ' 1 ! y . ,- 1 1 faith and works. He has not left us to ascertain this fact from the order of time or the priority of appoint- ment : that upon which our friends erect their towering superstructure. In attempting to answer the question, reference may justly be made to the relative, or emblematical, importance of baptism, whereas it emblematises the washing away of sin, &c. But impressive and expressive as it is, were it a church ordinance, its importance could not give it precedence of that ordinance, which is commemo- rative of our Lord's death and sufferings. We for- bear, however, drawing invidious comparisons, as each ordinance is expressive, and important, and comforting. .X • I would remark that 2nd. The first fact that might be adduced in accounting for it, is, that baptism had been instituted, not only before the Supper, but be- fore the Church itself. And as a prior appointment it was natural that it should continue as it began. - The next fact that may be mentioned is : — 3rd The Lord Jesus connected it with the preaching of the Gospel. The commission and the preaching of FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. .Philip prove this. The Lord's Supper and other church ordinances are not so. Baptism was to be taught and obeyed where the Lord's Supper and other appointments were not to be even mentioned. The practice of the Apostles and Evangelists lumin- ously shows their views of the Commission. Philip showed the Eunuch the way to Calvary, and he caused him to accompany him to the baptismal pool; but it is presur^.ptuous to assert that he taught him any more. It was not the fitting time. To lecture the Eunuch, in the desert of Gaza, about church ordinances, would have been preposterous. To tell a man all about the constitution and privileges and duties of a Christian Church, who was not destined to enjoy its privileges, or submit to its obligations, \ would have been " passing strange." It would have been doing the work of a lifetime in an hour. Paul left Titus at Crete, "to set in order the things which were wanting ; " so that all thiligs might be done " decently and in order." See Acts xi. 19-26. But our close communion brethren say with an uverweenins confidence : " It is nowhere said in i- . 'I •i4 70 FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. I ..I Scripture, believe and eat the Lord's Supper, but believe and be baptized." We reiterate the asser- tion; we concede the fact. Certainly, it would have been absurd for Philip to have said to the Eunuch, " believe and celebrate the Lord's Supper." But let not our friends imagine that we think so, be- cause Gaza was far away from holy ground, or gorgeous " Cathedrals." 4th. Baptism was made an immediate duty, be- cause it could be separately and individually obeyed. It can be obeyed by a candidate in his, or her, indi- vidual capacity. The Lord's Supper and other church ordinances, cannot be so obeyed. For al- though the Lord's Supper cannot be observed with- out an association of believers, yet Philip might lawfully have baptized the Ethiopian in the wilder- ness, had there not been another Saint beneath the canopy of Heaven. 5th. Baptism was made an immediate duty, doubt- less, because it could at all times and in all places be immediately observed. That baptism could be submitted to at all times FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. fl and, bating possible exceptions, in all places, the Scriptures warrant us in believing. But to predicate the same of the Lord's Supper — to assert that it could have been observed at all times and in all places — would be obviously unfounded. For, al- though the jailor was baptized at midnight, and the Ethiopiaai was baptized in the wilderness, yet the Scriptures inform us that the disciples had to con- gregate, in order to observe the commemorative ordinance : '' And upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break the bread." In other words, they had to come together to do that which 'Paul reproved the Corinthians for not having done aright : " When ye come together into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." See 1 Cor. xi. 20. :'"■' V:;;:;--'^' "t'v Be it observed that, in our own times and in all times since, some Churches audaciously arrogated to themselves the power ofenacting laws, and of chang- ing ordinances, a convert to Christianity could not and yet cannot possibly attend to the Lord's Supper, for the first time, for the space of from one, to three • i 'it M ^h 72 FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. ii' i: ! months. Were a man, or woman converted amidst the great body of Restrictive Baptists, those who profess to be, par^exceUence, scrupulous copyists of . all primitive examples, such convert could not, if converted early in any month, observe the ordinance of the Supper, until after several weeks had elapsed. Alas! Alas! •■ :-:| ;:^;■^'^^•^<;■,;'"^■^;■^c ,V>:1> But it is easy to perceive, however, that such monthly and quarterly customs, were they scriptural, would help to fortify my position, and that they would proclaim to the world, that baptism was made, ' a first and an immediate duty, because it could be immediately obeyed. * -■ ^^ Now, I have reached the goal. When starting I tasked myself with the solution of the question, whether or not our Lord and His Apostles acted under the authority of moral, or of positive law, in associating exclusively with baptized persons. And if not guilty of some mental obliquity, I think I have shown, that the necessity under which they acted, was merely circumstantial. - ■ T- v:?:' But, suppose I had even failed in accounting sa- " FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. 73 tisfactorily for the disputed fact, what follows ? Not the failure, or the absurdity of my arguments, or principles. It were naught, save the failure of an attempt to convince those whom I think in error, but whom, nevertheless, I esteem and love. I in- vite my readers to compare the way in which I have accounted for the priority of Baptism — especially with that to which it is ascribed by the Close Com- munion Baptists. Dr. Howell, their chief advocate has declared that unbaptized Christians ought not to be received into church fellowship because it would be receiving them without " sufficient evidence of grace in the hearty The way in which I have en- deavoured to account for the fact, neither unduly exalts baptism, nor in any sense, or to any degree , depreciates its importance. It is neither made ab- solutely essential, nor is it at all, set aside, as a nu- gatory rite. It is assigned its respective province in the Gospel dispensation ; but that province, is not that of being the badge of discipleship, instead of love ; nor that of being the door into the Church of Christ, instead of Christ Himself, nor that which ■I 1 'i ■ i I u FACTS AND EXiltPLES EXAMINED. ^1 1 ' i. I ! h :■ I i f W I ^ washes away sin, instead of the precious blood of Christ which atones. RETROSPECTION. Most gladly would I have retired at this stage, to allow my readers to contemplate, calmly, the ar- guments which I have submitted. But there is an eye-sore, a gangrene, which so irritates my spiritual vision and gnaws my spiritual entity, that I cannot pass it by silently. ^ ' .' ; : ' What save the temerity, engendered by denom- inational prosperity, or the desperation which accom- panies despair, could have induced a doctor of divin- ity, an otherwise orthodox doctor of divinity, to have constituted baptism the insignia of ** grace in the heart ! " Verily, this great section of the Baptist denomination are, most unfortunately and unconsciously, becoming the veriest Puseyites ! How very different are the sentiments advocated by Dr. Howell from those of the Apostle Paul, and those upon which Abraham Booth descanted in .his " Reign of Grace." How the descendants, or co- i 'i lit FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. 75 religionists, of Andrew Fuller and Joseph Ivamy, of Kinghorn, and Norton, of England, together with those of the Rev. Drs. Fuller, Williams, Cone, Way- land, Hague, and Duncan Dunbar, of America, can brook such teaching seems truly marvellous ? What? Baptism the only efficient, or sufficient evidence of grace in the heart ! Shade of the Martyrs and of the Confessors and Reformers come forth as a phalanx of light to con- tradict and controvert this flagitious falsehood! Baptism the only efficient, the only potent, the only satisfactory evidence of grace in the heart ! ! Look ! look my readers, at the hosts of baptized apostates, who have infested the world, since the days of Judas Iscariot, Simon Magus and of Julian the apostate; and say, what evidence is baptism, either of conversion, or discipleship ! ! I will here state that which I consider an incontrovertible axiom, viz.: — ■■;•-:.■:;■ ^ ,-■:■ m- ,-■-■/■> ^ .•..■.\. , -;■- That, the existence of that which, in no sense and to no extent, qualifies a man, its non-existence can, in no sense, and to no extent, disqualify him. 7-"" Si ; 76 FACTS AND EXAMPLES P:XAMINED. PRESUMPTIVENESS. illii .1' • " The aggregate of all those sects and systems is popularly known as the Church, and the Cliurch is acknowledged to be of divine institution. Some claim that only their own sect is of divine appoint- ment ; but this claim now meets with general disfa- vour. The dis^ sition on the part of any particular branch of the Church to lay claim to being the veri- table Zion the Lord hath founded, arises from a mis- conception of what is meant by Zion, and a misun- derstanding of the purposes for which the Church has been established. They imagine that [by Zion is meant not a kingdom whose throne has been pre- pared in the heavens, and all whose appointments ai'e adjusted with reference to the circumstances and wants of the subjects, but an artificially contrived system, having certain parts and functions arranged upon an arbitrary plan and founded for its own sake, or at best for the purpose oi glorifying God, through its beauty and perfection as a system. Those who hold this view glory in their Church as a vis- FACTS AND EXAMPLES EXAMINED. 77 ible institution, having as they believe, exclusive divine authority for every article in their system of church government, and for each particular feature in their forms of worship, and for every clause in their Church's creed. They contend for the Church as an outward organization. It must stand forth as a sacred structure whatever becomes of those who refuse to bow down and worship. lis appointments must move along from age to age in stately and monotonous procession even though they should crush the erring and the helpless beneath their tread." * ♦1 ' See Appendix E. i \ ! ! iff i SB ICHAPTER VI. m m FACTS WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. Contingencies have been [metamorphosed into examples — Unleavened Bread — Celebrated at night and in an upper room not examples — All Primitive Christians baptized before observing the Lord's Day — The Gentiles had no Sabbath, and the Jews observed the Seventh Day Sabbath •^This fact showed neither choice nor design — Primitive Christians enjoyed miraculous powers, and spoke unknown languages —Were those facts examples, Christendom would thereby be now unclmrched—TYiQ emanation of an Italian writer — Dr. Buchanan and Bishop Hall's opinions. ^^i EFORE proceeding to particularize facts which ®^ constitute examples, it may be profitable to glance at a few of those primitive contingencies, which have been frequently metamorphosed into examples. FACTS WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. 79 I would remark tlmt; Ist Having used unleavened bread, and celebrating the first supper in an upper room and at night, are not examples. But as the Close Communion Baptists do not claim the authority of exampleship for any, or either of these facts, it seems bootless to enlarge. And if any person or party wishes to know why, I refuse to recognise the exampleship of all such facts, such person or party may find my reasons therefor in a previous part of this work. The writer wishes to avoid verbosity and supererogation. 2nd. All Primitive Christians had been baptized before they observed the Lord's Day. It seems to be indubitably certain, that all Chris- tians originally were baptized before they observed the Lord's Day. The fact that the world was divided into Jews and Gentiles, and the conceded fact that, originally, the first duty attended to by every convert to Christi- anity, was baptism, proves conclusively the truth ol the proposition. For, ^41 ..J ''f.\ u ,-.- m\ '1 ll mi'' ilflf 80 FACT.S WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. 1st. The unconverted Jew would not abandon his own Sabbath ; so long as he acknowledged fealty to ' his ecclesiastical kith and kin. He believed neither in " Jesus of Nazareth " nor in His laws, nor His institutions. In his unenlightened judgment, the observance of any day which tended to supersede his hoary and time-honoured Sabbath, must have appeared to be a sacrilegious spoliation. And 2nd. The unconverted Gentile, slighted both the Jev/ish and the Christian Sabbaths. He cared for neither. Hence the fact, that the Gentile must have been baptized before he celebrated the Lord's Day. Now, i may ask with calmness and confidencej do these facts manifest either choice or design. Would it have contravened any law of Heaven, to have allowed such converts to have celebrated the day which proclaims Christ's resurrection, had any of them remained unbaptized, because of any adventi- tious circumstances ? For if the Lord's Supper be an appointment of the Lord, so also is the Lord's Day an appointment of the Lord. If the one appoint- ment celebrates His death, the other appointment, [t* il ii' FACTS WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. 81 for ever more celebrates His resurrection. How auomalous, how marvellously inconsistent, is the con- duct of our restrictive brethren ! They cordially, yea cheerfully, unite with all Christians, whether bap- tized or unbaptized, in celebrating the Lord's Day. Whereas, they look awry, upon all without their cir- cumscribed circle and deny their right to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Why do they not bewail the degeneracy, decry or impugn the motives and con demn the sacrilegious temerity of all psedobaptists, because they celebrate the L . "d's Day? Fortunately, their sanity over-shadows and countervails their inconsistency. 4th. The Primitive Christians were endowed with miraculous power, and with speaking unknown tongues. Are these facts examples ? It seems propitious to the cause which I advocate, that those facts existed. For since the churches became denuded of these superhuman powers, none but maniacs could pre- sume to claim for them the authority of examples. Indeed, no axiom in Euclid can be more incontro- P I hi: i 82 FACTS WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. M. iC \li * I Ni^^i vertible than that, — " that which to us is an impos- si-nlity cannot be an example." Were it believed universally that these facts con- stitute examples, what desolation and mourning it should necessarily engender throughout Christendom ! The mind stands aghast at the spectacle ! What a spiritual deluge would such examples hurl all over the extensive kingdom of Emmanuel! By their arrant disobedience and constitutional deficiencies, all churches would inevitably become unchi^-ched. Were miraculous power, one of the essential and compon- ent qualifications of a Church of Christ, then the spiritual poverty, the absolute mendicancy^ of all professors of Christianity, in this age, might well make them, either innocent dupes, or arrant im- postors. An Italian writer, when descanting on the Acts of the Apostles, says : " The difficulty to the Jews of receiving the Gen- tiles was a great one. To do so was to give up all their privileges : all that remained of the ancient glory of Israel. Peter, therefore, on his return to I- FACTS WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. 83 Jerusalem, is reproached; he had eaten with the Gen- tiles. Peter narrates all that had happened, and how God had given them the gift just as to believing Jews ; how then could he hinder God ? The Spirit had sent him to the Gentiles — the Spirit had been given to them. It was the accomplishment of the words of John the Baptist, and other brethren were witnesses to the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Jews could no longer resist the clear evidence of the will of God. Grace overcoming in their hearts, they ex- claim — ' Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.' " Dr. Buchanan, another great man discourses thus : " What kept the old Roman soldiers together when at war, was the common homage paid by them to the Imperial Standard, which floated over the Prae- tor's tent. So again, when the ancient Scotch • warred with the English, it was not the pennons of the various Feudal chiefs, but the broad banner of Scotland, which kept them together against so for- midable a foe." " The celebrated Bishop Hall, said above two hun- r f i,jj^^i*fl38Hi^SiJ ' s, 84 FACTS WHICH ARE NOT EXAMPLES. dred years ago, that he considered that if those who consented to the chief specialties shoukl fall od| about immaterial differences, they would be lilie td quarrelous brethren, who having agreed upon the main divisioU of their inheritance, fell out about some heaps of rubbish.'* I . ■I i ii>; ■J^ i r-MT^ix W&tiJ I lid 'u. . h i^iait^!^!^ CHAPTER VII. FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. Close or Restricted Communion causes sects and divides Christ's body — Choice and design essential in facts which constitute examples — The Lord's Day— The Jewish, or Seventh Day, Baptists — The cause of their practice — 2nd, The Lord's Supper — Strange that those who observe the Lord's Day because of the law of example neglect doing the same with the Lord's Supper — Evidently caused by misaj)- prehending the phrase '* a» often as ye do this,"' &c. — Why the Church at Corinth was reproved about the Supper— The Baptist Church at Abbey Street, Dublin, its forbear- ance — The downfall of idols at Christ's birth — The Ants, their unity and confraternity — Ants are worthy of iniita- t'on by many Christians — The ancient Romans were emu- lous of imitating their ancestors. " "^"^^ITE principles held by the Close Coivimunlon Baptists would force Christ, had He ac|ie4 on their plan, to make two sets of la\7 for His dnurch, /. // h iJ i 'I Hi! 86 FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. as it would make two parts of His body. They are very unkind to the lambs, they leave all to the foxes." * . Facts which constitute examples invariably mani- fest both choice and design, and are neither matters of contingency nor of necessity. Now for an exempli- fication of the principle. The first to which I will advert is, The Lord's Day. The accounts fur- nished by the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles show clearly that the Primitive Churches observed universally the Lord's Day. And church history proves that those churches which succeeded the Apostolic, continued to do so. Herein is a perfect example. Had it pleased the King of Zion, to have perpetuated the Jewish Sabbath, he would have caused His people to have continued the observance of their Jewish rite. There is a small section of the Baptist Church in America who in their blind zeal still observe the seventh, instead of the first, day of the week. They *Alex. Carson, LL,D. Uttered A.D. 1S44, but hitherto unpub- lished. FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. 87 are generally denominated " Seventh Day Baptists." I mention them not, however, as a subject for con- demnation. Because their scrupulous adherence, to a custom, which they deem scriptural, deserves as much praise, as their ignorance of that which consti- tutes a divine example, deserves lamentation. But as all other churches are unanimous in their adhe- rence to the Lord's Day, the subject needs no further amplification. . . 2nd. The Lord's Supper. * • " I believe I am no more at liberty to disregard what I find in the Word of God respecting every pin of the Tabernacle than I am at liberty to disre- gard what I find there respecting the salvation of my soul. Whatsoever I find in the Word of God respecting any arrangen^ ^nt which He has laid down for the regulation of my conduct T am bound to fol- low to the best of my ability." * It were well that all Christ's disciples had hereto- fore practically adopted the sentiment so lucidly * Speech at Glasgow on "Christian Union, by iJr. OandJish, jlJ). ma. Ht, I *H i I w^ FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. t a. ■ ;- ^ 1,, i- i' i ■ Ik Li, avowed by the learned Dr. Candlish. It seems strange that the greatest part of those who pertina- ciously abide by the examples set by the Primitive Churches as regards the Lord's Day act as though they were freebooters respecting the example left them by the Apostolic Churches regarding the Lord's Supper. For if it be a fact that all primitive Christians assembled on every Lord's Day, it is un- questionably certain that whenever and wluu-eso- ever they so assembled they all ate the Lord's Hup- per. See Acts xx. 7 ; 1 Cor. xi. Evidently this dereliction of duty is caused by misapprehending that which constitutes au ex- ample, and by misinterpreting the words uttered l)y the Lord Jesus when inculcating the purpose for which the ordinance is to be observed — "as often aa ye do this do it in remembrance of me." The Church at Corinth was unsparingly rebuked by Christ's Apostle for having forgotten the purpose, notwith- standing their sleepless exactitude as it regarded the time. " When ye came into one place this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." The one was outward and FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. 89 1! i visible, the other was inward and invisible. The recurrence of the Lord's J)ay, rendered the time tangible and obvious, whereas the purpose could only be comprehended by the upheavings of faith. When, oh, when ! shall all the Churches of Christ resume their allegiance to their rightful King, by observing this ordinance, both as regards its time and its purpose ? One of the most striking exhibitions of Christian reciprocity, which the writer has ever witnessed, is cultivated every Lord's Dtyy by the Baptist Church which worships in Abbey Stix^et, Dublin. Many of ihu ||iyUj|jbr§ of tbis ancient Cromwellian Church, 1>oilove Iti Itie inoiithly celebration of the Lord's Huppj'T, whilst others observe it weekly. All are Rgreed to differ, both as regards principles and prac- tice. Here, undoubtedly, is a model Church. Here diversity of opinion exists, conjoined to infrangible unity. Let all Christians cultivate this spirit of forbearance and Christ will shortly have as united a Church as that which was founded hy the Apostles. Universal charity can acconipUsh that which m FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. Iff' y; >■ l never has, and never can be, effected either by rigid or frigid uniformity. How true are the words of the great Carson * — " Where Christians have perfect harmony among themselves it is the harmony of ignorance." Srd. The Apostolic Churcliea admitted those who were weak in faith and those who were prejudiced into church raemhership. It has been said that when Christ was born, all the idols in the world fell. But whether this be a genuine ttuth, or a mythological legend, it is certain that all barriers and impediments to a full and free reception into Christ's original Church, fell flatly before a profession of faith in the Son of God. The mandate from Heaven was— " Him that is weak in the faith receive ye." "Who art thou who con- demneth another man's servant ? To his own mas- ter he standeth or falleth." The story of the ants, as related by Mr. McCook may be appropriately quoted. When speaking of the habits of Fornicarufa, he * Alex. Carson, LL.D. Uttered AD. 1844, hitherto unpublished. M •i: FACTS WHICn ARE EXAMIM^ES. 91 says that the "ants, when descending the tree paths with abdomens swollen with honey dew (called by him Repletes) were arrested at the foot of the trees by workers from 'he hill seeking food. Galleries communicating with the hills opened at these points around, and in which numbers of nts were huddled engaged in drawing or bestowing rations of honey dew. Similar commissary stations were found un der stones near by. The Replete reared upon her hind legs and placed her mouth to the mouth of the Pensioner, who assumed the same rampant posture. Frequt ntly two, sometimes three, Pensioners were thus fed by one Replete. Apparently the workers engagcid in building the hill and galleries had thus resorted to those feeding places to obtain ordinary food, in the same manner that Queens, males and young ants receive it, viz., by disgorgement from the abdomen of the Repletes. The latter commonly yielded the honey dew complacently, but were some- times seized and arrested by the Pensioners with great vigour. . "A number of experiments were described, leading I; 'iu &. V^."^n2^ 9MAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // %// 7 # A f/i 1.0 ,'56 I.I " m ?. kS. 112.0 1.25 1.4 III JA 1.6 m m ^l c^: c^i ^ ^ ^^W^. ^^^/ ^'^. > o 7 M PhotDgrapbic Sciences Corporation \ ^^ ■'V % V 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716) 873-4503 vf ! ■HI 1 m % is o \ ^ lf§ 92 FACTS WHICH ARE EXAMPLES. •f s- s 1 to the conclusion that there was complete amity between the ants of a large 'portion of the field, em- bracing some 1,600 hills and countless millions of creatures. Insects from hills widely separated, al- ways fraternize completely when transferred. A number of ants collected from various hills frater- nized in an artificial nest, harmoniously building galleries and caring for the cocoons." Am I not as justifiable in referring those in Christ's Kingdom who are "heady and high-minded," domineering, selfish and ungenerous, or rash and ir- rascible, to be taught by these insects, as was Solo- mon in sending the sluggards to their school ? For verily, they teach unity, amity, generosity and fidelity as fully as that of industry. How much superior was the fraternal spirit manifested by the infidel Romans when compared with the fratricidal spirit exhibited, age after age, by the nominally christianized Romans. One of the Scipios declared that he could never view the figures of his ancestors without finding his bosom glow with the most ardent passion of imitating their deeds. _ . . : CHAPTER VIII. - ■ ' ' -'■■'' I- THE EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH EXEMPLIFIED. Excision and Unity taught by examples— Professor Curtis another mouthpiece— His distinction between Christian and Church fellowship a myth, an unfounded assumption — his cause is pitiable — He could not succeed had he writ- ten as many books as Epicurus, or Varro, or as Origin, or Didymus — The absurdities embraced by the human mind marvellous— Had the Apostolic Church bestowed Christian Fellowship upon those whom they excluded from church fellowship it would be an example. — Had there been anciently both baptized and unbaptized believers, and the baptized had been received and the unbaptized had been rejected it would be an example— But there existed one class only— There existed only one denomination which is an Example— Dr. Struthers' sentiments— There are many AlphonsGS. — Wonder that Christ did not allow of two de- nominations : a Jewish and a Gentile Church — It would not have rendered Him bankrupt— TJie Romans had no ^rord tc express what we call " common sense "—The poverty of ni II III I ^ fsswr 04 EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. .'■■ i •I I Is .; I all languages when delineating this and some other subjects — This is the plainest and most unmistakeable example — It cannot be mistaken — Inculcated by the Lord Jesus and His Apostles — The primitive unity not caused by necessity — Carson's opinion of that which qualijies members for membership. / < ' ►ROFESSOR CURTIS, of the United States, another inouth piece of the Close Comm anion Baptists, has written a volume in a futile endea- vour to establish a aifference, or a distinction be- tween Christian and Chw/ch fellowship. Seldom, indeed, has the Christian world been afflicted by such an exhibition of sophistry. Direful, or pitiable, » must be the cause, which needs such advocacy. But he deserves no attention from, me, as the principles propounded in this work must necessarily prove that his theory is no better than legerdemain. Had Dr. Curtis written books after this fashion, until +hey outnumbered those written by Epicurus, or Varro, Origen, or Didymus, they would tend only to sink the casue he advocates, more deeply, in his sophistical quagmire. His efforts are all perfectly quixotic. ^ ;^ EXTERI^AL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. Marvellous are the absurdities often embraced by the human mind ! Truth, certainly, is sometimes stranger than fiction. But how any man, or body of men, can complacently fraternize with other Chris- tians, supremely orthodox and strictly moral Chris- tians : many of them zealous and eloquent ministers of the Gospel, and yet look to the Book of God for an example to justify them in debarring such from any ordinance in Christ's Kingdom, almost surpasses the conjectural powers of the most fertile imadna- tion. The system adopted by our restrictive Baptist brethren and by all other denominations who may be guilty of excluding moral and orthodox Chris- tians, because of some minor nonconformity, is not only incongruous and incompatible with Scripture, but is truly the baseless fabric of a vision. It is buttressed upon neither theology, reason, nor com- mon sense. Henceforth they may look in vain for an example to justify their untoward and unwar- rantable practice. Manifold and marvellously great has been the charity vouchsafed to them by the m 96 EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHUllCH. U h * i Psedobaptist world. Embraced as brethren, and yet anon repulsed and disowned as aliens. Had their practice emanated from arrogance or assumption, it would positively be unendurable. But presuming it to be the offspring of an easy credulity and fiery zeal, it becomes tolerable. ; < ■ It is to be hoped and prayed for, that hereafter and unceasingly, the Holy Ghost may beget in them a spirit of consistency by which they may be con- strained to admit to all ordinances and full church- fellowship, all the orthodox and moral disciples of Christ throughout Christendom, or, otherwise, to disown them always and to discard them everywhere. To say, as Dr. Curtis does, that Christian fellowship was bestowed before church fellowship in Apostolic times, is no argument. Had the Apostolic churches extended Christian fellowship to those whom they had excluded from church fellowship, it would have been an example to justify the Close Communion- ists in acting similarl}/ . : ^^^^^^j-^^^ \ ^ '- 2nd. A supposed fact which ivould have been an example. It may be well before closing this section •! EXTERNAL UNITY Of' THE CHURC&. 97 to state explicitly for the behoof of the Close Com- munion Baptists that which would have been an example, ample and explicit enough to justify their exclusiveness, viz., That had there existed in the days of the Apostles both baptized and unbaptized believers, and had the primitive churches, invariably and everywhere, received the baptized into church fellowship and refused admission to the unbaptized, that fact would have been a veritable example ; a model to be imitated by all churches for evermore. This fact would manifest both choice and design . : most perfectly, -■--l^'i-" - 'M'.- 1' >-■ "-r;.; -ov But as there existed one class only, there existed no opportunity to manifest either depxgn or choice, it was merely the enforcement of a circumstantial ^: necessity. How simple the solution of this hitherto difficult problem ! How easily this perplexing laby- rinth has been disentangled ! Can anything be plainer ? Can anything be more conclusive ? 3rd. All Apostolic Churches were of one dE' NOMINATION AND WERE EXTERNALLY UNITED. Thin fact is an eocample. Dr. Struthers has well i 'it 1- mr 98 EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. I i ' 1 I said, -"That those who love their system on ac- count of its founders because they were good and great men, are guilty of that for which Paul re- proved the Corinthians, ' Who is Paul and who is ApoUos, &c/" ■ V ' Come hither, ye sectaries of all lands and of all Christian ages, and behold your distorted forms in the mirror of this divine example. It cannot do otherwise than blazon forth to your hazy vision your obliqueness, unfaithfulness, and culpable de- generacy. The tempera: aents which engender dis- cord and division seem indigenous to human nature. For even in the daya of the Apostles many were adventurous enough to display their proclivities. It is said of Alphonso the Infidel, that in his blasphe- mous arrogance he declared that if he had been with the Creator, when he was creating the world, he could have taught Him a lesson. Impious mortal ! Facts evidently indicate that there have been many Alphonsos. How many there be, even in our own enlightened age, who, had they lived contemporaneously with the founders of Christ's EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 09 t 4> I Church, would have volunteered an opinion, or who might even have hazarded an advice on this mo- mentous subject ! The idea of having all Christians shackled within the tightening, the suffocating meshes of one de- nomination, would, doubtless, have appeared to , their democratical souls both parsimonious and pre-* posterous. Two denominations, at least, would be deemed essential. One to be denoixiinated the ? Jewish Church and the other the " Gentile^ To the writer, even, it sometimes appears mysterious that the Lord Jesus, who knew the separating propensi- ties of his future flock, did not gratify this propen- sity to a limited extent. The limited indulgence of allowing merely two denominations would have been but a doit, a mere mite, when considered in ^connection with tho overflowing effulgence of the Exchequers of Heaven. But no ! not even an inch, much less an ell, of marginal latitude did He allow ! The Jew 'and the Gentile, notwithstanding their previous feuds, hatred and recriminations, must, after their conversion from darkness to light, after lil '.n l\ f i,i»?' "7'T II w*:4 n \H K. 100 EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. having been adopted into the family of God, be henceforth called by the same name and be dwellers together as subjects of the same King, as children of the same Father, and as coheirs of eternal life and blessedness. Scholars know that the Romans had no word in their language by which they could communicate that which is expressed by our words " good sense." And when a man comes to grapple a subject of such gigantic dimensions as that presented by my theme, he feels the poverty, yea, the beggary of all langua- ges. It acts on the mind as an insupportable load, — an unutterable perplexity. Becaube, this is an ex- ample which seems to be above and beyond all other examples. For the lesson which was intended to be perpetually taught by it, was made manifest by the prayers offered up by the Lord of life and glory, be- fore His ascension. ' - >• " 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 may also be one in Us, EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 101 that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them that they may be one even as We are one. I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one." — John, chap. 17. Who could have imagined at the time when those prayers were offered, that those for whose behoof they were pre- sented, Vv'^onld aiterwards continue disunited ! A divided Church is a picture, which is both sad and sickening. Who can refrain from exclaiming " Lord, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visitedst him ? " And the same matter of Christian reciprocity, or perfect internal or external Christian unity was ex- pressed absolutely, and dogmatically inculcated by Christ's Apostles. So, whatever excuse, the ignorant and the obtuse may have, in having misunderstood and disobeyed the duties, inculcated by other exam- ples, all shifts and subterfuges must fail, if alleged against it. For this example is like the 53rd chap- ter of Isaiah, of which a Jew once said, " that there was no difficulty in understanding the 53rd chapter 1 -; i !r ».i y' " 102 EXTERNAL UNITY OB^ THE CHURCH. li 1 1 1; ! lit of Isaiah; the great difticulty was, in not being able to misunderstand it." And so it is with this unspeakably prominent and lucid example. Its light is replete and evidential. Moreover, the fragmentary confederacies into which Christ's people have respectively constituted themselves, may easily see that this example was not caused by " necessity," that which Milton de- nominates " the tyrant's plea." For had the Great Head of the Church allowed sects and various de- nominations to exist, it certainly would not have been the infraction of any law, moral or ceremonial, positive or circumstantial ; and beyond all doubt 01* peradventure, it is infinitely removed from con- tingency or haphazard : because choice and design are legibly and indelibly stamped upon its forehead. That late excellent minister of Christ, the Rev. James A. Haldane, has said that " a Church of Christ is a free school for all His disciples, and no man is warranted to exclude even the weakest and most ignorant." Certainly the Scriptures inculcate the law of love. And we have neither a command nor EXTERNAL UNITY OF THE CirUIlCH. 103 an example for loving as Christian brethren, those who are denied admission into the Church, or those who have been excluded therefrom. It would he strange to see a man die for one with whom he would, not, or could not, hold Christian felloiuship. See 1st Cor. 13th chap. And we are commanded to lay down our lives for the brethren : that which we are not bound to do for any persons besides. Chris- tians individually and collectively are glaringly in- consistent in awarding sincerity to those whom they disown and repel. Dr. Alexander Carson has well said : — " that which takes a man to Heaven ought to take him into any church on earth." Who can be astonished at the sentiment expressed by the poet ? — " Man's a biped, amphibious both in nature and religion ; and the least that is said about him the better ! "* * See Appendix F. ~;r,= ,- 'H m *'' m i .1 -m i i if rjk: 1 Ifl r? 11 '>«ll ¥ 5 ■ m :[l ; !* r' I'l'r rt"i l' ■ ' J -i. -iv;-' ■■;■ '1 a f I CHAPTER IX. THE PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE CONDITION OF v CHilST'S KINGDOM. ' U \ Man's mind strangely constituted — Decartes, his scepticism — Christ's Kingdom is divided — Melancthon and the wolves and the dcgs — The dogs were of many colours — A divided church is a weak church — Too many city and village pastors— Dr. Symino^ton's sentiments — Christ like the sun — His Church like an army — Dr. Cox and the Waterloo soldier — Christians might Ijarn wisdom from worldly kingdoms — The Hippoinolgians loved peace — The Indian king or chieftain hardened in idolatry by the divisions of the missionaries — Homer and the fishermen of lo. — The Church will continue to be feeble and divided until she becomes more prayerful — Homer's heroes — The cause of their success — Hector, the Trojan Hero, the Hosts of Greec 3 pray for success — Poetry — Pope's translation, Livy and Cicero and Balbus bhe Stoic believed in supernatural agency — The Motto of Gyrus, " Jupiter the Defender and Condurior " — His motto not so assuring as that of the THE CONDITION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 105 Christian— Christian unity and reciprocity inculcated— Christ's Benediction deserves both consideration and anticipation. . " Obedience is the first duty of every soldier."'^ ^^HAT strangely constituted minds some men inherit ! It is y/ell known that Descartes did not believe in his own material, or bodily, ex- istence, except as the result of a mental deduction. Gogito ergo sum was his only voucher, or trust- worthy evidence to the existence of his corporeal frame. Poor drivelling philosopher ! who will say that thou wast any wiser than a maniac ? Dr. George Campbell I:as declared that axioms are not self-evident to all minds. - I would remark — 1st. That Christ's kingdor,i is a divided kingdom. Dr. StrutLers says that " Bassarion, when exhorting the Christian princes to join against the Turks, teixo a. story about the dogs and the wolves which Melancthon applied to Christians in his day : * There Sir Henry Pottinger, Gov. -Gen. of India. J m 'r m 1 I* ■ h i 106 THE CONDITION OF CHRIST S KINGDOM. ;' ( ti I K Im ■■ was a war between the wolves and the dogs. Tidings were brought to the wolves that there was a huge army of dogs coming against them, to tear them in pieces. The wolves sent out an old cunning wolf to survey them, and to act the part of a scout. On his return he told them that there was indeed a great company of dogs coming ; they were far more numer- ous than themselves ; but they need not fear, for he perceived they were of different colours. On hearing this the wolves disregarded them.'" - It must be admitted that a divided chuich must necessarily be a weak church, for " divide and de- vour " is the motto of every enemy. Division neces- sarily weakens the Church numerically, financially and spiritually. Village hamlets, as well as towns and cities, have many superfluous places of worship. One minister of the Gospel might preach to all those who now employ, it may be, six or eight ministers. I cannot wr'l avoid adducing the thoughts of another celeb cted divine. " All Christians," says Dr. Symington, " are of one family, of one flock, of . In Heaven there is a unity of views kingdc THE CONDITION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 107 —they see and think alike. There is a unity of affection. See 2 John i. 2; Phil. i. 9. There is unity in the worship of the heavenly Church. Rev. iv. 10. The Church is one in liberty and holy obe- dience,— it should be so upon earth. Christ, like the sun in the firmament, is the great central orb. The Israelites, when marching to Canaan, went to war, marshalled as one mighty host, and led by one leader, though under their respective barners. There were four divisions, but all followed J udah as the vanguard in the march." Here we have a vast multitude and yet perfect order. There is multitude, distinction, union and order. Every man stood by the ensign of his father's house ; every tribe by its own standard ; every bat- talion by its banner ; and all were led by the ensign and captain of Judah. The late Rev. Dr. Cox, of Hackney, happened to be either working or walking - in his garden, in the memorable year 1815, as a limping soldier was passing by. The Doctor asked him if he was a soldier. He replied affirmatively. Being asked where he had fought,he replied, " Water- I h 2* 108 THE CONDITION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. ill If ■'^ 3 i- ? LOO.' The Doctor then asked him if it was for the company (the 61st) to which he belonged. The old soldier seemed indignant, and, drawing himself up to his full height, he replied, " I fought not for the 61st, but for the liberties of Europe." What lessons of wisdom, consistency and peace- fulness are taught the Church of Christ by men of both ancient and modern wordly kingdoms ! Homer, in one of his sublime passages, represents Jupiter as taking off his eyes with satiety from the hoiTors of the battle-field, and, by way of relief, as turning his gaze upon a people called the " Hippomolgi," wlio were famous for their simplicity and habits of quie- tude. Would that the demeanour of every individual Christian were such in the family, in the camp, and in the whole domain of Christ, that he, or she, might be truthfully designated a spiritual " Hippomol- gian." Strife, discord and wrangling but poorly comport with the divine inculcations and habitudes. It is said that a king, or chieftain, in South Africa was closely importuned by his christianized sons to be baptized ; but he justified his heathenism by the THE CONDITION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 109 existing divisions among the mission churches. " My sons," he said, " want me to be baptized. I say to them. Christians here, pointing to the Wesleyan Station, and Christians there, pointing to the Angli- can monks. Christians there wont speak to Chris- tians here. Whun one of them has converted the other it will be time enough to come to me." What a Upas tree is division ! How disastrous are its effects, even on heathendom ! If I would remark that — t^^^^K^^: - ^^ 2nd. The prospective kingdom of Christ is hop 3 ful. As regards the unity, greatness and glory of Christ's Church, sometime- hereafter there can exist no precarious contingencies. Surpassingly grand and peerlessly great it must become in the unseen, if not in the immediate, future. True it is, indeed, that the feuds and schisms, and divisions, and the unholy war- fare by which it has heretofore and hitherto been beset, and by which it has been blotched, blighted and shrivelled, are calculated to cause the faith of the mightiest minds to stagger, and to cause the contemplation of weakersaints to reluctate. But ■\il ifl,' ;.|i '1 f m 110 THE CONDITION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. ,;#! m f; , !' i ' 1 ■' «- ill if liiii mighty, great and united, the Church shall be, here- after, nevertheless. Doubts and perplexities have environed and overwhelmed even some great men in all ages. It is recorded, by a Greek writer of the life of Homer, that the immortal poet died of vexation, be- cause of not being able to discover a riddle which was proposed to him by some fishermen at an island called lo. Hapless, though famous bard ! A men- dicant throughout life, and a suicide in death ! But before the auspicious and long-wished for day dawns upon Christendom, the Church universally must exercise more confidence and manifest more prayerfulness. Indeed, the Church may well blush because of her incredulity, apathy and torpidity, when compared with the votaries of heathendom. Homer scarcely ever makes his heroes to succeed, unless they have first offered a prayer to Heaven. He is perpetually, says Mr. Pope, in his excellent translation, acknowledging the hand of God in all events, and ascribing to that alone all the victories, triumphs rewards or punishments, of men. The THE CONDITION OF CHRIST's KINGDOM. Ill grand moral laid down at the entrance of this poem, . . . . " 'The will of God was fulfilled,' runs through his whole work, and is, with most remarkable care and conduct, put into the mouths of his greatest and wisest persons on every occasion." When the Grecian chiefs cast lots, which of them should accept the challenge of Hector, the poet de- scribed the army as lifting up their eyes and hands to Heaven, and imploring the Gods that they would direct the lot to fall on one of their most distin- guished heroes. As Pope translates it : " The people pray, with lifted eyes and hands, And vows like these ascend from all the bands. Orant thou Almighty, in whose hand is fate, A worthy champion for the Grecian State. This task, let Ajax, or Sydides, prove, Or he, the King of Kings, belov'd of Jove ! " How very like a fulfilment is this of the divine command, " pray without ceasing." Many professed Christians are not even good heathens. The writings of Livy and Cicero, of Balbus the Stoic, and the author of the '• Life of Timoleon,' reveal clearly how n. !'■ !^ l> Vi u 11 M I m ^ ;i if f : II: i III '^ Ik 1 ' 112 THE CONDITION OF CHRIST S KINQDOM. fully they believed in, and how strongly they relied upon, an agency which was altogether unseen and supernatural. The first Scipio Africanus and Cyrus were para- gons of piety, and would constitute superb models for imitation by Christian kings and heroes. Why, Xenophon tells us that when Cyrus led his army against the Assyrians, the words by which he in- spirited his soldiers were, " Jupiter, the defender and com actor." Was this not tantamount to the " Je^ hovah-nissi " — " the Lord of Hosts is with us, and the God of Jacob is our refuge," of the ancient Church ? The motto inscribed on the banner of the hea,then general was, however, not so exhilarating and assuring as that which the Captain of our Sal- vation has bequeathed to His armies — " Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the world." Let me entreat every soldier of the cross to seize this pro- mise promptly ^.-nd to hold it with the utmost tena- city. And, by all the deep and great and boundless obligations which all Christians owe to the God- man, who once suffered for them ; and by all the THE CONDITION OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. 113 the unspeakable and eternal blessings which here- after they expect to receive from Him, I beseech them, both individually a.nd collectively, to endea- vour to have all his saints f itemally united, and to cultivate assiduously the spirit of " Christian reci- procity," so that every one may, when Christ next appears, receive His eternal benediction : — " Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."* ff * See^ Appendix D. P r.iM ^^ It H ■iwr ^^^ 1 1 CHAPTER X. H H if -*. I . / :■ ■' ■^ ; - [ 1 I , > 1 ,1 FACTS WHICH PRESUMPTIVELY PROVE THE UNITY OF • Christ's KINGDOM. ' Christian union presumptively proved by facts — Robert Hall and Alexander Carson believed and practised it — Dr. Geo. Campbell says that axioms are not self-evident to all men ! — One reason why Carson did not write on the subject, i.e., its being self-evident — Christ my only Master and the Bible my only guide — Christian unity condemned neither by precept nor example — All sins are so condemned — This is a necessity — If universal Christian fellowship were a sin it should have been condemned even by anticipation — Paul apostrophized — It is like Paul's lost Epistle to the Corin- thians — Quotation from history — Lectures on Baptist His- tory by a famous A merican writer — The Rev. William R. Williams, D.D. , of New York City. r.T was considered self-evident by good and great men, such as Hall and Carson, that all Chris- tians are entitled to church fellowship. This pre- THE UNITY OF CHHIST's KINO DOM. 115 sumption, I grant, may be met by a counter pre- sumption. My opponents may say that open com- munion is presumptively false, as good and great men consider it unscriptural. Still, that which appeared self evidently true to the gigantic minds of Hall and Carson, deserves at least a deliberate :^ examination. But it is dismissed by many of the other party as a settled question— as a thing self- evidently unfounded. What Dr. Campbell says respecting axioms not being self-evident to all minds is verified in this controversy. That which one party looks upon as self-evidently true, the other treats as self-evidently false. Surely extremes meet And we may well say, that none are so blind as those that will not see. The good Dr. Carson told me, that its plainness, or rather self eyidence, was one reason why he did not write on the subject. " If any man be ignorant," said Carson, using Pauls words, " let him be ignorant." 1 Cor. xiv. 38. When asked on another occasion, he replied,—" that which takes a man to Heaven ought to take him into any church on earth." What the Rev. Robert Hall "* iff 110 THE UNITY OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM. r i . 'I 1 M '1 * ' 1 : In ♦ , t - \ ■ believed, wrote and practised, the world know, and, therefore, I shall not comment thereon. Some say he failed in elucidating his doctrine and in justify- ing his practise ; others say he succeeded. Let the Christian world judge. We know what Carson believed and what he practised, but we cannot refer to his arguments. Alas ! we can not. Would that this subject had not been to him a self-evident truth, and that he had not been silent for other reasons ; then we might not only have his profession and practise, but also his lucid arguments. Many, how- ever, say that he believed and practised that which , he could not prove. What ! Carson believe and do that which he could not possibly show to be scrip- tural? ^ ■,.'.' '/■■'■ 'i/' ''''v!'^\^ '''■;''- '' Writings of the mighty dead confront this alle- , gation ! Let any honest unprejudiced man read the writings of this profoundly learned and most critical divine, and afterwards say that he ever practised that which he did not believe, or that he could not ' prove that which he practised ! Should he fail in such an engagement, few would have the hardihood H THE UNITY OF CHUIST's KINGDOM. 117 ' ' . to assert that it was not a solitary failure. But they were men — i' ilHble men, so we base not our practice on their authoiity ! * We call no man Master but Christ, and we take * no guide but the Bible ! The Scriptures condemn Open Communion neither by precept nor example. All sins, if I mistake not, are so condemned. That all sins should be so is absolutely necessary ; for where there is no law there is no sin ; sin being the transgression of some latv. In what minute detail were the sins of drunk- enness, theft and lying condemned ; and fornication was stamped as reprehensible by the King of Zion, both by precept and example. See 1 Cor. v. Even the venial sins, to use a Romish term, of speaking evil one of another, and of observing days and times do not escape notice — sins which did not unchristianize, or unchurch, while open commu- nion, — the great, the enormous sin of open com- munion is no where condemned ! Verily, this seems strange ! But the strict brethren will easily solve the mystery by saying — " the thing did not exist — II "ftl m If' iw 118 THE UNITY OF CHRIST S KINGDOM. there was no such sin in the Apostles' da I- I . »..,.. '•W 'T' u s :ii ■ ■ • i H li 'J ■ ill •1 HP. '} ^'^. i:i;i| 120 ?LOSE COMMUNION AND THE HOLY GHOST. 1; i| 't '; .hi H ■■ , ■\ If^' 1* "1 •'i' case as that supposed occurred not in Apostolic times, I grant that such a case did not occur, but I argue that as the Holy Ghost knew that it ^ight occur, and that it actually wovM occur, made it more im- perative to have it enumerated. When commenting on Sects Systems and the Church, the Rev, Mr. Laidlaw says that, " The Pros- pect is Brightening" " It is most gratifying," he says, " to observe that we have come upon an era in the world's history in which sectarian jealousies are beginning to dis- appear. As the Church is awakening to a sense of her true mission, and is going out over the whole earth in search of perishing men, she is beginning to forget herself — her personal appearance, her car- riage, her dress — and is coming to think mainly about how best to do her work. Representatives of all Churches who hold Christ as the Head, take counsel together concerning the translating and in- terpreting of Scripture and the building up the Kingdom of their common Master, and from Sabbath to Sabbath their children study the Word of God in CLOSE COMMUNION AND THE HOLY GHOST. 127 concert. Christian Churches of every sect have begun to strive together in prayer to God for the conversion of the world. Ecclesiastical bodies are beginning to look only into the history and creeds of other eccles- iastical bodies not for the purpose of detecting heresy, nor for the sake of ascertaining more accurately the nature and magnitude of existing differences, with a view to a more rigid adjustment of boundary lines ; but in the hope of discovering new features of re- semblance and new traces of hereditary affinity, by which they shall be able to declare that they all be- long to the same family ; and in some instances the circle has grown so large under this process of inves- tigation, that when the family re-union takes place, it must be held in one of the world's great centres, every nation under heaven being represented in the happy gathering. And throughout the mission field and at home in the great city and the little village, different denominations are beginning to consider not how each community shall have every sect re- presented in it, but how they shall so divide the territory as to economize, both men and means, and 41 1 fiiff~W'-ym mil I f fii'i^i.' 128 CLOSE COMMUNION AND THE HOLY GIJOST. still have Christ and His cause faithfully represented. Do we not hear in this the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, which shall soon prove itself the harbinger of a still better and brighter day ? "—pp. 254-6. CHAPTER XII. FEAKLESS INTEGRITY AN ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATION IN ACCOMPLISHING ALL REFORMATIONS. Lord Byron's intrepidity-How, when a child, he corrected the Actor at the Theatre- Man's weakness and vaccillation shown by Jehovah's injunction to the Prophet Jeremiah— " Dlmi7mh not a word,'' even God's Servants have to con- tend against their evil propensities— Those who bear disa- greeable messages are generally hated, as if they were the authors— The messengers of good news are received with f-ivour— Moses was blamed by those whom he led through the Wilderness— God's denunciations are often very disa- greeable, because He does not allow His servants to soften or conceal any part of His messages— Some ministeia fool- ishly boast of their dexterity in avoiding the doctrines respecting God's /Sfowmgr»%— Commentaries written to en- deavour to reconcile man's venial desires with God's Book —The Ordinances have been similarly treated— All Chris- tains to be treated kindly hut faithfully > ! !! I ^* i ^ 130 fEARLESS INTEGRITY, EtC. STORY is related of the talented but unfor- tunate Lord Byron, when a lad, which char- acterizes his whole career throughout life. It is said that, when sitting as a child among the audi- ence of the theatre at Edinburgh, he attempted to correct audibly an Actor, who was professing to mistake the moon for the sun on the stage by say- ing : " I tell you, sir, that it's the Moon and not the Sun." And it is well known, that Lord Byron, often suffered afterwards by telling people that their " Moons were not Suns." Perhaps there is nothing in God's Word which more clearly teaches the peccability of man, even of an inspired man, than the stringent and uncompro- mising obligations imposed by Jehovah on the Prophet Jeremiah, — "Diminish not a word," and through him on all religious teachers. Unquestion- ably the injunction implied the possibility of even an inspired Prophet being, through the desire for praise or gain, or the fear of martyrdom, unfaithful to his commission. Otherwise, why should a mess- . »■'! ■'W'l FEARLESS INTEGRITY, ETC. 131 ' enger of the all-wise Jeliovah need such a caution ? Shall a servant among men dread the consequences of tampering with the contents of a message to the friends or the enemies of his Master ; and shall the servant of the King of Kings compromise his duty, through fear, affection, or interest ? The caution supposes then the temptation, and experience proves that the servants of the Lord are under the strongest solicitations of an evil heart to be unfaithful in de- claring without reserve the will of the Lord. When the truth delivered is of a disagreeable nature, it exposes the messenger to the same hatred, as if he himself was the author of the threatened calamity. The messenger of good news is received with favour ; ^ut the messenger of evil news is an object of hor- ror. But the messengers of the Lord are not only exposed to the same displeasure with other messen- gers of evil, they are charged as malignant persons, who delight in the evils which they denounce as from the Lord. Men do not generally, in words, attack the Almighty, when they arc displeased with his message, nor directly bring him to account for m i;?r-r \it- It: 132 FEARLESS INTEGRITY, ETC. i- M i i, !- what is offensive; they bring the charge directly against those who deliver the message, or who urge them to consider it in all the relations of the children of Israel in the wilderness. They murmured against Moses, and instead of laying the blame of their calamities expressly on Jehovah, they brought them directly in charge against His servant Moses. In this way they gratify their resentment against the evil v/hich they dread, or suffer, and hide from them- selves their awful guilt in calumniating the Al- mighty. The things denounced by Jehovah were exceedingly disagreeable to the people of Judah. Though mercy was always held out to repentence, yet, as they were wedded to their idolatry and sins, they despised the Divine favour, or the way of a return to his service. They must have mercy as they desire it. When the absolute destitution of their temple and cities was presented, they were maddened with rage which they in reality indulged against God, and which was vented against those who carried rfis message. Jehovah at this juncture encourages His Prophet not to falter, and in the most authori- FEARLESS INTEGRITY, ETC. 133 tative tone, charges him to diminish not a word. Neither would God permit the threatening to be concealed, nor the language softened. The miscon- duct against which Jeremiah is here warned is often exemplified in every age, in delivering the message of God from the Scriptures. How many of the pro- fessed servants of the Lord tamper with His mes- sage to the children of men ! How many of them conceal a part of the will of God, in or ler not to offend ! Some openly avow their craft and glory in it as an instance of holy guile, which is supposed to be a great accomplishment in a pas; or. Have we not often heard of ministers of Christ, who boast that they assiduously avoid the doctrines of Scrip- ture that relate to the sovereignty of God, and the deep things of His councils ? How extremely wicked is the presumption ! They condem-n the wisdom of God as folly, and profess to have found a way of dealing with man more likely to be useful. The truths of the Divine Word are not to be taken out of their proper places. By pressing them in a view in which they are not exhibited, in the Divine ■I i i i 134 FEARLESS INTEGRITY, ETC. Word itself, evil may be done. It is preposterous to think that any thing is revealed in Scripture which it is wise to conceal. It is proof of atheistical pro- fanity. , , , . God's will should, invariably, be delivered as re- vealed. " Diminish not a word." Is the Lord more jealous with respect to the message to be delivered by Jeremiali, than he is with respect to the truths of the New Testament ? How strangely has the Gospel been moulded in order to suit it to the pride of man, and make it less offensive to his carnal mind ! How strangely have the doctrines of faith, justification, &;c., been modified in order to reconcile the Word of God and the wisdom of man ! How many ponderous folios of commentary have been written in order to effect what will never be effected — a cordial union between the natural lusts of man and the statements of the Book of God. The many contortions of the language of Scripture may be traced to this source. -^ ^-^- -^^- ■ Many of those who are engaged in explaining the Bible employ their efforts in endeavouring to de- FEARLESS INTEGRITY, ETC. 135 stroy the features of Divine wisdom, and make the Book of God a favourite with the world. The ordi- nances of God's house have met the same treatment. By the institutions of the great apostacy all the or- dinances of the New Testament have either been laid, or modified by human wisdom. There is not one portion of the Divine inspiration which has not been wrested. The Lord's people, when they have been allowed to return from Baby- lon have, in many instances, even thought it pru- dent to bend to circumstances, and by a holy guile, to persevere in those alterai/ions and modifications which were introduced by the man of sin. How few churches dare take the New Testament in their hand and go through it, with this fearful "aution before their eyes ! Have not almost all of them, either added, or diminished, or modified ? While we are bound to rejoice in all who hold the truth, and should receive them in all things in which we are agreed, we should not cease boldly and loudly, and constantly, to make this charge " tingle in the ears " of all our brethren, " Diminish not a word" i 1 l!l4iiii.i ! m i i ?ti 1 i i iiiili I I: . i i 136 NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. Talking of sects till late one eve, Of the various doctrines the saints believe, That night I stood in a trembled dream, By the side of a darkly flowing stream. And a " Churchman " down to the river came ; When I heard a strange voice call his name, " Good father, stop : when you cross the tide, You must leave your robes on the other side." But the aged father did not mind, And his long gown floated out behind. As down to the stream his way he took. His pale hands clasping a gilt-edged book. " I'm bound for heaven, and when Fm there, I shall want my book of Common Prayer ; And though I put on a starry crown, I should feel quite lost without my gown." Then he fixed his eye on the shining track. But his gown was heavy, and held him back. And the poor old father tried in vain, A single step in the flood to gain. 1 NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. 137 I saw him again on the other side. But his silk gown floated upon the tide ; And no one asked, in that blissful spot. If he belonged to ** the Church "^r not. Then down to the river a Quaker stray'd, His dress of a sober hue was made ; " My coat and hat must be all of grey, I cannot go any other way." Then he button'd his coat up to his chin, And staidly, solemnly waded in, And his broad-brimm'd hat he puU'd down tight Over his forehead, so cold and white. But a strong wind carried away his hat ; A moment he silently sighed over that, And then, as he gazed to the farther shore, The coat slipp'd off^ and was seen no more. As he entered heaven his suit of grey Went quietly sailing — away— away, And none of the angels questioned him About the width of his beaver's brim. ''i Next came Dr. Watts with a bundle of Psalms Tied nicely up in his aged arms, Tt' *'\i """ ihIM nri - \ i 138 NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. And Hymns as many, a very wise thing, That the people in heaven, " all round," might sing, But I thought that he heaved an anxious sigh, As he saw the river ran broad and high, And looked rather surprised, as, one by one, The Psalms and Hymns in the waves went down. And after him, with hia MSS. , Came Wesley, the pattern of godliness, But he cried, ** Dear me, what shall I do ? The water has wet them through and through." And there on the river^ far and wide. Away they went down the swift tide. And the saint astonish'd passed through alone, Without his manuscript, up to the throne. Then gravely walking, two saints by name, Down to the stream together came. But as they stopp'd at the river's brink, I saw one saint from the other shrink. " Sprinkled or plunged, may I ask you, friend. How have you attained to life's great end ? " ** Thus, with a few drops on my brow.' ** But I have been dipp'd as you'll see me now," W'-V NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. 139 " And I really think it will hardly do, As I'm ' Close Communion^^ to cross with you ; You're bound, I know, to the realms of bliss, But you must go that way, and I'll go this J** Then straightway plunging with all his might, Away to the left — his friend to the right. Apart they went from this world of sin. But at last t )gether they entered in. And now as the river was rolling on, A Presbyterian church went down ; Of women there seem'd a wondrous throng. But the men I could see as they pass'd along. And concerning the road, they could never agree, The Old, or the New way, which it should be. Nor ever a moment paused to think That both would lead to the river's brink. And a sound of murmuring, long and loud. Came over from the moving crowd, " You're in the Old way, and I'm in the New, This is the false, and that is the true ; " — Or, " I'm in the Old way, and you're in the New, This is the false, and that is the true." ! I. r.,fffTf — 1 ^lUi ' ^il ' ; ■: • ri ■1 , i ; ^' 1 ■ '■'] u i ; K s ■' 'i'* tl 1 ■' .-- 1 '"t it 1 ■ ■■■ J • ' ;:) 1 : ;i 140 NO SECTS IN HEAVEN. But the brethren only seem'd to apeak, Modest the sisters walk'd, and meek, And if ever one of them chanced to say What troubles she met with on the way. How she longed to pass to the other side, Nor fear'd to cross over the swelling tide. ■ A voice arose from the brethren then : * * Let no one speak but the * holy men ; ' For have ye not heard the words of Paul, * O, let the women keep silence all ? ' " I have watched them long in my curious dream, Till they stood by the borders of the stream, Then, just as I thought, the two ways met, But all the brethren were talking yet, And would talk on till the heaving tide Carried them over, side by side ; Side by side, for the way was one. The toilsome journey of life was done. And Priest and Quaker, and all who died. Came out alike on the other side. No forms, no crosses, nor books had they. No gowns of silk, nor suits of gray, No creeds to guide them, nor MSS., For all had put on Christ's righteousness. APPEISDIX A. THE LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH AT TUB- BERMORE. [HE church at Tubbermore became Baptist by degrees. Some of the members were baptized before the Pastor. Owing probably, iii part, to this circumstance, they have never regarded an o odi- ence to this ordinance an indispensable condition of admission to the Lord's Supper. Indeed, they have carried the principle of open communion to the ut- most extent, by receiving members into their body simply upon evidence of their conversion, with but little enquiry whether they agree with them on the subject of Baptism, expecting that whenever they became convinced of their duty to be immersed, they would attend to it. To the great majority of Bap- tists it will appear that this practice together with their open communion was not in accordance with ffi. T- T' HlA'r 142 LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. r • h 'h the example of those primitive churches which, in other points, it was Mr. Carson's delight to imitate ; and that its tendency must be to throw into the : shade an ordinance prominent in the New Testa- ment, and to dissever Baptism from the Gospel, of which it is so 3xpressive an emblem. Certain it is, however, that Mr. Carson believed this plan to be consistent with the will of the Lord ; and this fact, while it may seem to show that his views of Gospel order were not in all respects precise and clear, is at the same time a strong proof of his esteem, liberal- ity and kindness of disposition. It ought, therefore, to bespeak for his writings a very favourable atten- tion from those who are so loud in their complaints of the want of charity among Baptists. He was as char- itable as their hearts could wish, and ever more ready to hold fellowship with those Psedo Baptists who otherwise taught a pure gospel than with such Bap- tists as he might conceive to have departed from genuine orthodoxy. Every Lord's day, for the last forty years, has this church commemorated the Lord's death by the breaking of bread, regarding it as bind- LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. 143 ing upon them to do so, as often as the return of the hallowed time caused them to remember His resur- rection. This is a universal practice among the Con- gregational and Baptist churches, both in Scotland and Ireland. As authority for it they appeal to Acts XX. and 7, — "And upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, " &c., and from this they infer that one of the most prominent objects for which the churches met on that day was the break- ing of bread. In their belief that such is a primi- tive custom they consider themselves sustained by what is known of the manner in which Christian institutions were observed for many years after the death of the Apostles. On this point they cite the testimony of Justin Martyr, who, in his second "Apology for Christianity," says : — " On the first day of the week all Christians in the cities and in the country are wont to assemble together, because it is the day of the Lord's resurrection. They then read the sacred writings, listened to an oration from the Bishop, joined together in prayer, partook of the III Rfw fi-'-'^ytm 144 LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. I'» ir: 1*1' If * iil I*- _. 1. m ill I ir »• 1 m"u- Lord's Supper, and closed by a collection for the widows and poor." This may be received as an in- teresting picture of an Apostolical order in its native simplicity before the rude hand ©f corruption had marred its fair proportions." " The increasing frequency with the ordinance as observed among most Evangelical denominations is a pleasing feature of the present day ; and we cannot - but regard the extensive change from annual com- munion — a custom derived from the superstitions of Easter, to its monthly celebration as a cheering ap- proach to primitive example." * Kote by the Committee of the Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia : — " In admitting this account of the peculiarities of the Scotch and Irish brethren, the Committee wish not to be understood as favouring all the views and practices described, or as encouraging their propa- gation in this country. They believe that the mixed communion and the admission of unbaptised persons to church fellowship are in direct violation of scrip- K, LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. 145 tural authority ; that public exhortation by laymen in Lord's Day assemblies is an irregularity tending to produce disorder and many other evils ; and that Christ has given no express precept for the weekly observance of the Supper — but has simply required that as often as we do it, we should do it in remem- brance of Him." Yet as the object of this memoir is not to defend particular points of doctrine, or order, but only to sketch the histo / of an eminent and be- loved minister, it was deemed advisable to keep back none of the facts necessary to throw light on the cir- cumstances in which he was placed, and the course which he pursued." " Mr. Carson's church were accustomed to partake of the Supper in the public assembly during the morning service, believing that in this manner they » made it an instrument of really showing forth the Lord's death, and proclaiming by visible emblem the great facts of the Gospel ; and deeming the ordinance- far more lively and impressive when thus administered in the midst of surrounding spectators than when i Vi 146 liATE DR. CARSON AND HtS CHURCH. •1';:; observed, as is often the case, in general absence of the congregation." "The solemn and painful circumstances of his death we shall lay before our readers by presenting them with the following extracts from a letter written by a gentleman who was studying with him, to Dr. Maclay, of New York : — , V " Dear Sir, — ^Your letter of the 5th of July last to the late Rev. Dr. Carson lies before me. As his hand is cold in death and his sons are greatly afflicted, it devolves on me to acknowledge your favour. " Knowing that you and many others of our Ameri- can brethren will be anxious to learn how he died, I shall endeavour to furnish you with a true, though brief account. " He went to England in July to advocate the cause of the Baptist Missionary Society. For this pur- pose ho travelled through many parts of England, and I believe most of Wales. When on his retur . , about the end oi August, when waiting in Liverpool for the sailing of the Br ^fast steamer, it was night- LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. 147 fall, and in taking out his watch to ascertain the hour, he approached, unconsciously, to the edge of the dock, and was precipitated into the water where it was twenty-five feet deep. Providentially, there were persons near at the time, who, with the aid of a lad- der, succeeded in rescuing him from a watery grave. His shoulder having been dislocated by the fall, he had it set, and was conveyed on board the steamer. During the passage he became dangerously ill ; and though on his arrival at Belfast he had the aid of the physicians there, together with that of his son and son-in-law, Drs. Carson and Clarke, of Coleraine— it was all in vain, he had to go to his rest and to re- ■ ceive what he often termed the reward of grace. On Saturday morning, August the 24th, A. D 1844, he departed in peace, aged 68. His remains were taken for interment to his residence at Tubbermore. Oh ! wiiat tears were shed ! And what voices of lamen- tation were heard over the dear departed warrior ! Never was there such an exhibition of sorrow in this country before. It would hav*^ pierced the soul of any one to behold the anguisl. of the old veterans $: !; ' ! H. * Ut i I I I ' ■1 f :: '1 li s if ! |i • i i I ,. i , i ' ■#!| ■^i- ^ ' "'' ? 1 148 LATE DR. CARSO , AND HIS CHURCH. who had stood by him for the last forty-five years. They looked for their captain, but he was gone ! They sought their general, but he was no more ! Having supplied his pulpit most of the time during his absence, it became my painful duty to do so on the first Lord's Day after his' departure from our world. But such a house of weeping hearers I never saw before, and wish I never may again. " You maybe able, in some measure, to calculate the loss which the churches of Christ have sustained when I tell you what he intended to accomplish. After the death of his beloved and excellent wife, he told me that he Aever intended to take a holiday in this world. * I will ' said he, ' leave them all for heaven.' At another time he said, ' My head is full of books, I will write on till I empty it. ' One of the first which he intended to give us was a treatise on the Atonement. Would that he had been spared to execute it ! But God's purposes had to be fulfil- led. The eyes of all the Presbyterians of this country, with a part of the Scotch Church, as well as many other denominations were waiting on him for some (!'.< , time expecting this work. At length he consented to satisfy their wishes. He had the subject thor- oughly studied — the plan formed — authors read, notes taken, and the book itself all but written, when lo ! he was not ! for God took him. He in- tended also to write a book on the best mode of teaching the churches. He thought that ministers in genpral were lamentably deficient in this matter. When I think of all he intended to do, and which he only could do so well, I am almost overwhelmed with sorrow. You will be glad to hear that he left a good deal behind him yet unpublished. He had just completed a work on the characteristic style of Scripture, showing its purity, simplicity, and sublim- iry, and contrasting the Bible and the God of the Bible with the gods of the heathen, as described by their poets. . * * ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^-^^^^ - ; i 7 " How irreparable is our loss ! How successful has been his course ! What labours has he undergone ! What results has he achieved ! What privations and sacrifices has he endured ! How like was he to to the Apostles and primitive disciples ! He preached ■', t if It:;:' t. ifil I, ^i II ill in It I t ■ H fiiii 150 LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. the Gospel, through good report and evil report. Nothing could cool his zeal. Onward was his motto. ' When Christ was to be 8erved,His laws obeyed, or His truth defended, no force of opposition could discour- age or intimir'ate him. Many an Alps has he cros- sed. His arm was mighty when fighting the battles of the faith. ■ * Jle was a warrior in the Christian field, >" ; Who never saw a sword he could not wield.' - " What shall I say of his assiduity ? For the past fifty years or more he was never known to idle one day. He laboured hard for knowledge. What shall I say of him as a scholar and a critic ? Viewed in this light he was far above either praise or censure. The grand peculiarity of his mind was critical acumen. He always saw the bottom of every subject which he undertook to handle. The foundations of his reasonings were laid, either in self-evident truths, or in explicit statements from the Holy Scriptures. ' While his honesty of heart would not allow him to deviate a single iota from the truth,to accomplish any sectarian object. What shall I say of him as a Chris- .#. LATE DR. CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. 151 tian ? Only this, that with all his classical, philolo- gical and philosophical acquirements, he had especi- ally learned the humility of his lowly Master. With the coUossal stature of a giant he possessed the meek- ness and simplicity of a child. May we all, in this respect, imitate his example. What shall I say of him as a theologian and minister ? Nothing. Let his works and his church speak for him. Might I not safely challenge the world co produce such a church ? In knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures, its members could teach many a minis- ter. And is it possible that such a man can ever be forgotten ? Never, till the last trumpet sounds ! He, himself, once said of Luther, * It requires an age to produce a gi-eat man in some departments.' But a Carson is not to be found in a millenary. Who is so blind as not to see that God made him expressly for His work ? Had not the fire of God kindled his soul, would courage so romantic have led him to at-, tack the hosts of the Man of Sin in their strongest intrenchments ! His faith was bold as that of Jona- than when with his armour bearer he assailed the ! 152- LATE DR, CARSON AND HIS CHURCH. litili II I'- m iff vU If » i p. i m ranks of the Philistines. Of him may be said that which was once said of the celebrated Robert Hall, ' He is gone, and has left the world without one like him.'* " Yours truly, "George C. Moore. " Tubbermore, 27th September 1844." * Extract from a brief memoir of Dr. Carson prefixed to one of his works by the Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia. U - I APPEIvIDIX B. of " THE LIFE OF KEV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D." By Geo. G. Moore, Giving an accotmt of its Inception and Progress, in a Letter to his son, James L. C. Carson, Esq., M, D. and J. P., of Coleraine. Y DEAR Doctor,— I presume it is now about thirty-four years since your father was called away from earth. And yet few, infinitesimally few, within the great empire, of which he was an ornament, have heard a jot, or an item, respecting him ; except that which those who possess his .writings may have gleaned from them. To the uninitiated this must seem anomalous. For whilst this illustrious scholar, peerless critic, and i 154 LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. h i li > mighty theologian, remains mouldering in oblivion, many a man who was comparatively a mental and . literary dwarf has had his name and fame blazoned by memoir and statue, not only througuouu the British Empire, but the world. In America it has been otherwise. For in that country, a few years after your father's decease, one of his former opponents seemed to gloat over the « grave of his late controversial adversary, and en- deavoured to avenge your father's critical inflictions by publishing garbled extracts from his works. This, to say the least, was ignominious. For thereby he endeavoured to entail upon your father's memory and writings a spirit of gall and wormwood. Your meek and gentle father's spirit, instead of his argu- ments, seemed the only vulnerable point at which could have been hurled a shaft. Thence arose an apparent difficulty. Your father's assertions needed no vouchers, and his arguments needed no sustaining advocates. But the man, the minister and the great Christian polemic, required to be portrayed as a man of charity, blandness, and docility. For it has always, and in all lands, been LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. 155 enough t impossible to cause a pen, when dipped in gall, to produce anything which is either salutary or odoriferous. Therefore, the question mooted, and after a short interval vociferated, from Halifax to New Orleans, and from Quebec to California, was: — " Who is to defend Carson ? Who is there that knows enough of his private and domestic life that can prove that he exercised a kind and gentle, in- stead of a pertinacious and malignant spirit ? " For the people of the United States at that time seemed to concur fully in the sentiment expressed by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who has said : — " How are the difficulties of the task of the mental portrait- painter increased if the private history of the man whom he portrays is almost entirely unknown to him ; if he has to draw every tint, not from the living face of nature and life, but as seen through the multiform and changing media of his pu>^lished works ? To produce a likeness of the man of which he can say, with unfaltering confidence, that it is true, is well nigh impossible. Because the senti- ments of the lip and the pen may be very different from those which find embodiment in the actions M ' t t I 'J d f^ I a 1 1 1 156 LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. and the life. In writing of our hero, we should always like to consult his vabt." It was not long after this important question, — "Who can defend Carson?" was asked, until an answer thereto, emanated from teachers in acad- emies, from professors in colleges, from presi- dents of universities, and from a mighty host of ^ Christian ministers, and also from one of your own sisters and her husband, Mrs. and Mr. Hanna, then residents of New York, unanimously nominating your obedient servant, because of my having been a student of your father, and for years an inmate of his family ; and having been at that time the delegate of the Tubbermore Church to the United '.States. ■/:■■■< 'i^:-''^''-:\ ' ..'■"'■;^-:''^r' ';:■■■ "Well, my dear sir, having been thus summoned to undertake that, which I then considered an Herculean task, was more overwhelming to me, than it was as- tonishing to many of my friends and adversaries. For a person, of my years and abilities, to essay writing the life of so very great a man, appeared to be preposterous. And having previously heard that LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. 157 the author of — " The Divine Legation," had dedica- ted one of his works " to the most impudent man alive," I feared, that my compliance, might justly .entitle me to the unenviable honour. So, instead of vainly and joyfully accepting the high behest, I took time, both for contemplation and consultation. But contemplation and consultation, did naught, except to harass and embarrass me. The work to be done appeared to be fearfully onerous ; but to refuse to try to perform it, I considered would, necessarily render me, both pusillanimous and odious. And with these impressions, without ignoring the duty, yet I endeavoured to shirk the responsibility by writing to your youngest brother, your father's suc- cessor in the ministry at Tubbermore, to undertake the task, promising to aid him in every possible way. " Unfortunately, he ^1 f^clined peremptorily, either doing it himself, or aiding me in doing it. His lefusal, however, instantly and absolutely terminated my hesitancy, agreeing as I then did with a great writer, that there are occasions when any even the '" slightest chance of doing good must bo laid hold on, ' . I ) 111' , I.. 1 I! tl Si i tl i 168 LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. even by the most inconsiderable person. Therefore, because of my fealty to the Great Head of the Church, together with my veneration for the memory of the dead, and my obligations to the liv- ing, who had invited me to perform the work, caused me to erect the best fabric which my scanty mate- rials and my scanty abilities could have erected. And since then I have frequently thought that no man knows what he can do until after he has tried, and that the temerity of youth is often more produc- tive than either the timidity or the torpidity of age. In the United States the work has proved very successful, both for the author '^nd the publisher, having passed through eight editions in less than eight years, and might since then have passed through twenty other editions, were it not for the bankruptcy of the publisher, whom it amply re- munerated. And having caused The Independent, which is the great mouth-piece of the Independent Churches of America, and of the all but omnific Beecher family to declare when reviewing my book, that " The author has rendered a valuable service. LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. 159 not only to his late friend and preceptor, but also to the Church of Christ at large : and that henceforth and for evermore, no man will be able to charge the late Rev. Alex. Carson, LL. D., as having been a man of a bad spirit, &c., &c., I felt myself amply re- warded. Thus, the primary object for which the work had been written, was most satisfactorily ac- complished. Then, as regards the size of my book, I would say that, if it be small, it was made so designedly. Its brevity was predetermined ; so when I referred to my scanty materials, it had reference to the quality and not the quantity. Brass, lead and clay, I have discarded, because compilers, collators, and diffusive writers can, in this age, find but very few readers. I think you will readily perceive how easily I could have produced two or three ponderous folios, when I tell you that the late Rev. Dr. Maclay, of New York, and the late James Buchanan, Esq., British Consul at that city, furnished me with as much material respecting your father, all ready for the press, as would form a large volume. Why, sir, the life of s 160 LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. even the great Dr. Chalmers had to be abridged in America ! So, whether right or wrong, my ideas on this point tally exactly with those published by the Kev. C. H. Spurgeon. ' : • - ^ After having reached this country, from America, last year, some members of your father's family ad- vised me to proceed to London in order to ferret out my stereotyped plates, and to see the justly re- nowned Spurgeon, with the expectation of having a new and enlarged edition of my book, and if con- sidered advisable, all your father's works issued under the scrutiny and approbation of the great London preacher. Well, after a long and very expensive search I found my plates, thanks to the honesty of English- mpu ! safe in the vaults of a great London printer. My reception by Mr. Spurgeon was very auspicious and fraternal. " Mr. Moore," he said, " I have had your book those twenty -five years past, and I like it very much." Then, in addition to this flattering announcement he promised to aid, by every lawful LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. IGI means, a new edition of my work, and of your father's works also. This was no faint praise from the man who had proclaimed in a sermon preached only a short time previously, and published a few days afterwards (Aug. 2nd, 1877), in which he said : " We ha,ve no biographers now-a-days. There is no greater cheat than a modern biography : it is not the man at all, but what he might have been if he had not been something else, &c." . Under those favourable circumstances I would have proceeded immediately to have issued my work, together with some thirty-five original letters written by your father to the Rev. Spencer Murch, of Bath, England, who kindly sent them to me to form a supplement : only for an intimation which T received from the Rev. Robt. il. Carson, of Tubber- more, stating that you were about writing a life of your father. Well, Doctor, though surprised and somewhat disconcerted by this announcement, yet I was glad to hear that one of your superior powers was about to undertake to correct my mistakes, if iSf £ If: ■ 162 LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. ««■" rfl n : I. n s I) .t there be any, to supply my deficiencies, and in fact to produce a work superior to mine, and altogether worthy of its great subject. Hereby, I trust you will perceive the exercise of my deference for you. But after having waited patiently over fourteen months, now the sad tidings have reached me from Ulster that because of your many pressing avoca- tions, and of your very severe bodily afflictions, that you have been unable to perform the work. I trust my work is performing some service to the best of causes, not only over North America but in the far-off lands of Norway and Sweden, where it has been translated and scattered widely those years past. * V* * * */;;-^ Now, in conclusion, I would say that as my health has been fully restored, and as my sisters and brothers are pressing me to return home to Canada, I wish to ask you as the great chieftain of your tribe, as the leader of the large, widely-known, and justly esteemed Carson family, what am I to do with those plates ? Will your health enable you to write an elaborate introduction, embodying all LIFE OF REV. ALEX. CARSON, LL.D. 163 your greatest thoughts and ideas respecting your father for my work ? Or shall I proceed to London or some other British city, and dispose both of my copyright and plates to some publisher ? Or, not- withstanding the fact that those plates contain por- traits of your father and ueloved mother, which, I think, deserve some place of conservation through- out all future ages, shall I be compelled to have them demolished and sell i^he type for a bagatelle ? It has been said, that "fraud deaL in generalities." so I have ventured to detail as many particulars as will show that my labours as a biographer, and the burdens thereby entailed, have been, neither few nov light HopI ig to hear from you shortly, I remain, my dear Dr., your ol'iged friend and servant, George C. Moore, -' - » Tullylinn, C Sligo, Ireland, Sept. 23rd, A.D. 1878. V ^- UN Ml APPEJ^DIX O. I;, V D:' REV. DR. WILLS LETTER. ' i \ ; -i I I n; ii = i ti I': — TT IS:'-- New York, Dec. 13th, 1852. ^-, iTt^ ear Bro. Moore, — ^^-2^?t^ Your note came to hand two days since, and I take this early opportunity to reply. As your note is mostly in the shape of questions, I had, perhaps, better supply what information I can to each, successively ; though, first, I would say I am happy to learn of your welfare. Not having heard from you so long, or seen you, I scarcely knew what to think, as we are in such a changing world, whe- ther you were alive, or dead, or what. You inform me that seeing a letter in a newspa- per respecting me, you were induced to write to know what I was doing in the city, and whether I had a church or not. You do not tell me the parti- ;^^^m EEV. DR. WILLS LETTFK. 165 culars of that letter ; was it good or bad they had to say of me ? As this is a world of so much evil, the Christian who seeks to follow the Lord, and oppose the Antichrist of all denominations in this day of widespread error, must not expect to have much irood said of him. I am now out antagonist to the Antichrist of the Baptists, which the enclosed card will apprize you of, if you have not heard of it be- fore. It would be too much to go into particulars in a letter. All I would here add is, that I have .^ome opposition, and may expect more ; but in the field no one drives mo out, or my name is not Wills. My lectures were published as I delivered them, and I question if the Close Communion Baptists ever ex- pected there would be such an exposure of their systems. When I have finished them I shall, please God, immediately form an open-communion church. The brother at Brooklyn you enquire for has not made any attempt as yet. He has been for six weeks at Flushing, but not preaching. He intends to join the church which I am about to form, and go out from that church, so that we shall have this ui nm 166 REV. DR. wills' LETTER. Ill - :' i l| Si I Ml, f : in J t y\ n i '5 ■^" ■■ '^ ' " X r - L. \ city as a starting point, and intend, if life be spared, to form open-communion churches in any part of the country or States, where people are so disposed, and find the ministers if they wish it. Your next question leads to both sorrowful and pleasurable feelings. You enquire for the health and welfare of deaf Marian. Both surpass what we can describe or conceive. She left this world strong in faith and the comfoH of the Holy Ghost, on the 26th of October. Three letters came to hand from her the same week she died. She had written one a month before, but by some means, which we can- not understand, we did not get it till more than six weeks after date, and two others written about a month after it, came to hand within two days of its delivery. In each of these letters she speaks of the comforting assurance she was receiving of her inter- est in Christ, and mentioned that she had experi- enced much blessing from my books. She mentions your name in her two last letters. In one she says, " Tell Mr. Moore, when you see him, for I know he was sincere in asking me if I loved the Lord Jesus, that I love Him because He first loved me, and He REV. DR. wills' LETTER. 167 has drawn me with the cords of His love to Himself; He has led me into His banquetting house, and His banner over me was love." This was written Oct. 13th ; on the 24th she died. In this letter, speak- ing of her health, she says : " What a mercy ! after four months, without the least glimpse of getting any letter, I should now feel that I am nearly -veil, only that I am so very weak." But a letter from her uncle, accompanying this, told us that her case was hopeless. We, therefore, became convinced that the disease had been making rapid progress, and her sanguine feeling about being so much better did but indicate that she was in the last stages of con- sumption ; but we thought, probably, that with the care and attention she was receiving, she might con- ' tinue till the spring, before the disease accomplished ' its fatal mission. Mrs. Wills, therefore, began to arrange to go to England, but awaited another letter before starting, which letter brought the intelligence that she was up sitting by the fire, but evidently fast approaching her end. She arose from her chair to go and recline on the sofa, which, when she I 1 ; 1 im i ■ '^^H iM' 1 m 1 ■ lay, mil k\ m V\ iWJ^^H (:i It i fi I-:;::: I 1G8 REV. DR. wills' LETTER. reached, she heaved a sigh, and was gone. What an unspeakable mercy, under such circumstances, to know that her faith to the last was strong in Jesus, and her soul greatly comforted by the Holy Spirit, The trial has been great indeed to my dear wife, and her health has also suffered much, but she is now somewhat better than she has been for some time. She desires her kind and Christian regards to you. Our little boy, Herbert, has been under the doctor's hands, but he is better, and we hope, please God, he will soon be restored to health. In other respects we are about as usual, and shall be happy to see you whenever you come to New York. Ex- cuse haste. I have msmy letters to write to-day, and but little time to do them in. May the Lord bless you in all your undertakings, and keep you His devoted servant, is the prayer of your affection- ate friend . * ' >, :'^--r:^y:^ I ■■•'>on the ordinances were instituted, there is no ground for regarding Baptism as having priority of clahu; it is unquestionably false to say that Baptism was instituted before the Lord's Supper, and we are compelled to conclude that there is not an indivi- dual who would assert it, were it not that they can find sufficient props to sustain their cherished dog- mas and exclusive denominational creeds without dragging in John's baptism, and making it a Chris- tian ordinance: but that sophistry we have exploded. The Eucharist or Lord's Supper was the first sym- bolical ordinance instituted : this was on the mem- orable eve of the crucifixion of Jesus. The ordin- c:i .^^ \, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^^5 v."^"? /. ^ #, ^ 1.0 !.l Hi |2^ |2.5 ■ 50 ■■■ HlHP u 1.8 1.25 III 1.4 1.6 : = < 6" — ► V] ^ '>:> 7 >^ % '^ y Photographic Sciences Corporation 1 '%^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ■i fi ^. C^ 186 RELATIVE POSITION OF ORDINANCES. i.4 M 41 -^ I." s m ■ m ance of Christian Baptism was not instituted till after Christ's resurrection, nor observed until the day of Pentecost." " It is affirmed that there is such a connection ex- isting between the two ordinances, that none have a right to commemorate the Lord's death till they have been baptized. We ask for proof, for we have never found it in the Word of God, nor the shadow of semblance to defend the assertion ; all the evi- dence adduced is to this effect (quotation from R. Fuller on ' Terms of Communion,' page 190). * By the standards of all churches, baptism is required before any candidate is admitted to membership \ and this is the reason why baptism has always been regarded as a prerequisite to the Supper.' Such is the 'proof of a stickler for restricted communion among Baptists ; surely he had better have gone to sleep than have written it ! What does it amount to ? Is it not, in effect, saying — ' I have no Scrip- tural authority ; but never mind, hear the Church — that will do when we can not get better evidence V " A i RELATIVE POSITION OF ORDINANCES. 187 " We now turn to Scripture for proof that tho posi- tion is a glaringly false one The Supper was eaten before the institution of the ordinance of Baptism, and that, too, as administered by Christ to the assembled Apostles before He suffered, as Paul em- php tically describes — ' the same night in which He was betrayed.' And, after His resurrection, He was known to the two disciples at Emmaus as He brake bread and gave to them; and probably on other occasions, before His ascension, He administered the Supper to His disciples. They were unbaptized, for the ordinance of Baptism had not then been insti- tuted. The words of Jesus in administering tho Supper prove that nothing was required of the communicant but a discerning of the Lord's body and blood ; and is it not possible that Jesus could have designed that the unbaptized should have been prohibited from commemorating His death, when He was the cause of such a striking example to the contrary, and enjoyed its reception, too, without any provision of the kind ? Again ; when He instituted 188 RELATIVE POSITION OF ORDINANCES. t 1 1 1- ' ' H':'ii 1 \: H Baptism, He would, of course, have said that in future time Baptism must be observed by all dis- ciples, or they must be prohibited from eating His Supper ; but not a word to this effect proceeded from His lips. It is, in trrth, just about as evident that one is depending upon the other, as that the salvation of man is depending upon either, which all will assuredly reject as a fatal error." " We are advocates for Baptism, to occupy its right position, and for it to be administered in its true scriptural way to t!i8 legitimate subjects. We would be second to none in enjoining the observance of all things whatever the Lord hath commanded ; but if any do not observe the obligation as we regard it in the Scriptures, but verily believe they have obeyed the command in another way, then God forbid that we should lord it over His heritage, and take rule and authority which he has never delegated. What, say to the people whom Christ redeemed with His own blood, * you shall not come to commemorate His precious death, because you have not trodden in the -4 '4 'I 4 RELATIVE POSITION OF ORDINANCES. 189 steps that I approve ! ' Multitudes do this, and think they verily do God service, as much as did Saul of Tarsus when he persecuted the saints of God." Rev. Dr. Wills. Note — The Author does not wish it understood that he identifies himself with Dr. Wills or others, who endeavour to prove that the first communicants had not jireviously submitted to Christian Bap- tism. I allow the restricted Baptists the full scope of all they claim, as to the priority of the appointment of that ordinance. N I