In the prophetic numbers and signs of the Scriptures, there is so much definiteness that many have thought it was duty to try to ascertain the very day or year for the end of the world.
Martin Luther remarks: “It would, therefore, seem as if God would somewhere raise up a Noah who shall be able to calculate the identical day, and to strike it unmistakably.”—Watch’s Luther, Vol. 6. Bengelius and Wesley limited it to 1836. Habershon and others fixed on 1844. Wolf and others on 1847. Hales and others on 1850. Faber, Scott and others on 1866.
In 1787 Wood, of Ireland, suggested that the 70 weeks of Dan. 9, formed part of the 2300 days of the preceding chapter, which as he judged by a natural inference would bring their termination in 1843. Of this view Dr. Hales remarked that “it is the most ingenious of the class,” and he considered it worthy of being republished in the “Inspector,” in 1789, and again in the “Orthodox Church Magazine,” in 1803, and afterwards in his great work the “New Analysis of Chronology,” vol. 2, p. 66. These calculations carried out, resulted in the great Advent movement of 1840 to 44.
In his letter to Mr. Miller, Prof. Bush says, “Nay, I am even ready to go so far as to say that I do not conceive your errors on the subject of chronology to be at all of a serious nature, or in fact to be very wide of the truth. In taking a day as the prophetical term for a year I believe you are sustained by the soundest exegesis, as well as fortified by the high names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Newton, Kirby, Scott, Keith and a host of others who have long since come to substantially your conclusions on this head. They all agree that the leading periods mentioned by Daniel and John, do actually expire about this age of the world, and it would be a strange logic that would convict you of heresy for holding in effect the same views which stand forth so prominent in the notices of these eminent divines.” Prof. Chase speaks as follows:—
“We need not wonder that the minds of many have, within a few years, been greatly agitated by an expectation of the speedy fulfillment of certain predictions in the book of Daniel. The way for this was prepared by some of our standard English writers on the Prophecies, men of former ages, venerated for their piety and erudition.” Prefatory Remarks on Daniel, p. 5. Prof. Stuart more than admits the same. See Hints, pp. 8, 38.
Scores of the most learned writers on eschatology have penned similar sentiments to the above. Why, then, should it be regarded as a criminal thing for Adventists to be expecting the second coming of Christ about this time? Though we may not know the day or the hour, yet we are commanded to know when it is near, even at the door. We are also told to “Look for and haste unto” the coming of that day.
Bishop Russell of Scotland says: “The tradition that the earth, as well as the moral and religious state of its inhabitants, were to undergo a great change at the end of 6000 years, has been detected in the writings of pagans, Jews and Christians. It is found in the most ancient of those commentaries of the old Testament, which we owe to the learning of the Rabbinical school.”
Rabbi Gedaliah says: “At the end of 6000 years the world shall return to its old state, without form and void, and after that it shall wholly become a Sabbath.”
Henry D. Ward says: “This view of the course of time in six days of a thousand years, appears not to have been confined to the Jews. The Chaldeans, according to Plutarch, believed in a struggle between good and evil for the space of 6000 years; and then Hades is to cease, and men are to be happy, &c.”
Prof. Bush, speaking of this ancient tradition says: “At the same time it is but fair to admit that as there is nothing in the Scriptures which directly contradicts it, the tradition may be well founded.”
In a volume of the German Bible, in the British Museum in the autograph of Melanchthon, in German, is found the following most interesting statement:—
“THE PROPHECY OF THE PROPHET ELIAS.”
This world endures six thousand years, then it will be burned. Two thousand years it is waste; two thousand years the law of Moses; two thousand years the day of Messiah. And because of our sins, which are many and great, the years will be lessened (i. e., of the last period), and will not have their full measure.
“Written in the year 1557 after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ of the Virgin Mary; and in the year from the creation of the world, 5519.
“From this number is to be seen that this very inflammable world is not very far from its end. May the only blessed Son of God, Jesus Christ in this bitter distress, mercifully keep, govern and save with his protection his poor little flock. Written by the hand of Phillip 1557.” [Translation made by Prof. C. L. Loos in 1868.]
The above date for the age of the world is from the commonly received chronology of Usher. But this chronology, though generally correct, is at fault on the period of the judges. The apostle Paul gives about one hundred and thirty years more than is given by Usher, which would bring the 6000 year period about this time. The extreme of the disputed time would all expire in ten or fifteen years more. The prophetic periods reaching near to the end have all run out. All the signs given as a basis for faith in the near coming are now fulfilled. We are therefore shut up to the conclusion that the crowning events of the whole world’s history will come in the present generation. Though the definite year is not revealed, yet a bound is fixed beyond which it cannot pass. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the immutable word which has fixed this bound cannot fail. After giving the signs to be witnessed by the last generation (Matt. 24: 29–35), he says, “Verily I say unto you, THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS till all these things be fulfilled.”
If the generation is to be reckoned from the first sign in 1780, when the sun was supernaturally darkened, then verily the generation can last but a few years at most. There are but few persons left on the earth who were old enough at that time to be witnesses of that sign. And these are fast passing away.
The oldest person in America is now in his one hundred and twenty-fourth year. He is a colored man in Tennessee. The following interesting account of this man may not be out of place in this connection:—
“THE OLDEST MAN IN AMERICA.”
“Dr. A. A. Davidson, of Mayfield, Kentucky, writes as follows to the Louisville Courier-Journal:—
“Seeing an extract from the Newport News in your paper concerning the death of ‘Aunt Hannah,’ colored, who was one hundred and twenty-two years old, has induced me to write you the following:—
“On the farm of Dr. Scott, on the head-waters of Forkydeer river near Milan, Gibson County, Tenn., there lives an old negro named Fortune Snow, who is in his one hundred and twenty-fourth year.¹ In June, 1872, I went to see him; and I will tell you what I saw when I got to the house. I met an old snaggle-toothed gentleman sixty-five years old, who told me his ‘grandpap’ was in the house, and he soon came tripping down the stairs as nimble as a fifteen-year-old boy. He told me he was twenty-five years old when the Revolutionary war began. He belonged to Capt. Snow, who served during the war under General Marion; was born in South Carolina, and fought through the war under his master in nearly every battle. Yet he never has received a pension from the ‘best government the world ever saw.’”
“He said when he was about ninety years old he went totally blind and remained so two years. His hair, which was as white as wool, all came out. Subsequently his eyesight returned, and a new growth of hair came out, which is now about gray. He enjoys fine health. On examination with the ophthalmascope and otoscope, I found his sight and hearing to be good. He opened his Bible at the eighth chapter of Revelations and read the chapter distinctly without glasses. He goes hunting, and shoots squirrels and birds without glasses. He is very religious, and believes strongly in the ‘good God’ who preserved his life through the ‘old war’ and reads his Bible very constantly. He is the father of thirteen children, the oldest of whom would be over one hundred years if living, and he is living with his youngest child, who is fifty-three years old.
“Old Fortune said he was never sick in his life, and never took a dose of medicine from a doctor. He never has the toothache, and has not an unsound tooth in his mouth, nor any other kind.
“He moved from South Carolina to Alabama where he lived fifty-three years, then came to Tennessee. Captain Snow, at his death, gave Mr. Chapman, his son-in-law, $500 to support old Snow the balance of his life; and Mr. Chapman lived on for forty-seven years, and died, and left old ‘Nig’ still living.
“I have been precise in giving his location, so that any one who doubts this may go and see him. Hundreds of people go to see him, and he is always glad to see company, and talks fluently and readily.
“He certainly is the last of the Revolutionists. He is about five feet six inches, weighs about one hundred and fifteen pounds, and is very black.”
But if this view of the generation should not be considered the true one, take any other view extant, and still we must come to the same conclusion, namely, that the end is near, even at the door. When the signs are fulfilled, then all the warnings against looking for it too soon are removed, for the danger now is in putting it off. So we now are warned against putting far away the day, and saying, “The Lord delayeth his coming.” “The wise shall understand.” Dan. 12: 10. Those who are awake to the subject will “discern the signs of the times.” “And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Rom. 13: 11.
“Yes, he will come, no longer fear,
Though earth and hell assail:
His word attests the moment near,
And that can never fail.”
“Not many years their round shall run,
Not many mornings rise,
Ere all its glories stand revealed
To our admiring eyes.”
M. E. CORNELL.
Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 19, 1874.
Sunday in New York.
UNTIL recently, theaters and opera houses have not been open on Sundays in New York; but the rising tide of corruption has broken this barrier of Sunday restraint, and now sets on toward the Sundays of Paris and Berlin. Some of the preachers are decrying this innovation; but it will be of little use. The Protestant churches have lost about all the power they once had over the people by their inconsistency. They have made their Sunday services partake largely of the nature of a performance, by the introduction of operatic music sung by hired choirs; and, under these circumstances, it is somewhat difficult for people to see why they might not as well hear a more extended and better representation in the opera house.
In this matter, the Protestants are patterning more and more after the Catholics. Dr. McGlynn (Catholic), of New York, “wished to be put on record as emphatically against Sunday performances.” In reply, one of the leading opera managers calls the attention of the public to the following facts:—
“First. That the Rev. Dr. McGlynn at service last Sunday morning, November 8, advertised to his congregation that they could hear on Sunday night in his church, for $1 and $1.50, Verdi’s requiem for which they would have to pay $4 at the Academy, next Tuesday evening, when I proposed to produce it in its entirety; and,
“Secondly. That a version of the requiem arranged for the organ, whereas the score demands a full orchestra, was sung in Dr. McGlynn’s church on Sunday evening last by hired artists, for which admission fees were charged, the profits going to St. Stephen’s.
“Is the craft in danger? Let Diana and Dr. McGlynn answer.”
Again, the dramatic style of the sensational preacher which now so largely occupies the pulpits, and the frequent substitution of Shakspeare for the gospel, is so very suggestive of the theater as to create a desire to go there, the few protests of conscience being silenced by the knowledge that “other church members go.”
Thus corruption increases. The form of godliness is joined to a denial of the power thereof, for they are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” And one of the most astounding evidences of blindness is that, while these innovations are constantly increasing, and the power of so-called Christians waning, it is said that the world is growing better, and that the “millennium is about to dawn!” A day of wrath is about to dawn which shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and purge the world of sin and sinners.
Let us find in our “blessed hope,” and in communion with God, that happiness which, by its satisfying nature, shall keep us from the “pleasure of sin;” and, heeding the admonition of the apostle, “turn away” from such as thus dishonor the name of Christ.—Herald of Life.
Barbarism or the Millennium?
EVERY city, nearly every village in the land, is set thick with saloons. In the large cities they are numbered by the thousand. Besides the ruin they inflict upon the persons and property of individuals, and the distress and degradation they bring upon families, they are a powerful factor in politics. To a deplorable extent they debauch the character and destroy the integrity of government, municipal, State, and national.
The influence of the rationalistic foreign element was never so great in this country as it is now. It boldly defies the Christian character of our institutions, and seeks to replace them with the license which prevails, so far as it is not restrained by the strong hands of strong governments, on the continent of Europe. Possessing the ballot, the mere politician will never offer any resistance to this foreign influence. Wherever the direct issue is made in any of our large cities, or other locality, where the German element is strong, the distinctively Christian institutions of our country go to the wall. The secular press is mainly rationalistic or infidel, and misses no opportunity to sneer at the Christian faith, to travesty Christian doctrine, and to assume as established facts the baseless theories and assumptions of rationalism. Scarcely a day comes and goes without its revelation of official corruption, and as for crimes and misdemeanors, the daily budget of them is more than any of us have time to scan, and they are passed over without an emotion.
If we look into the church, by which we mean the aggregate of professed Christians, expecting to see the Bride, clear as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as a host, we shall be disappointed; and it may puzzle us to tell where the line of religious principle and that of worldly morality begin and end. Do not all these elements of the situation, taken together, give a gloomy aspect to the future, and threaten the defeat of religion, the subversion of moral principle, and the destruction of the freedom of the State? Certainly, if intemperance, license, dishonesty, disbelief in man's responsibility to God, oppression, and inhumanity are to prevail, society will plunge into anarchy and chaos, and it will not be the first time in the history of civilization that such a plunge has been taken. In fact, civilization seems to rise, like the wave, to a beaded and snowy crest, visible from afar, and then to sink from view. So rose Judea, crowned with its golden temple on Moriah; Greece, with its marble Parthenon gleaming over its delightful valleys; Egypt, with its Karnac and Luxor, and America, with its Mitla, Palenque and Uxmal. Taking a sweeping view of the past of civilization, the scene is best illustrated by the incoming of a tide,—the waves rising and receding, but each one striking higher than its predecessor, and not falling so low. What promise is there that our Protestant Christian civilization shall not recoil, leaving its impress as the highest reach of a flood-tide which had been rising for a thousand years?
Abundant reasons why this should not be so may be offered: The greater volume of intelligence, of practical and abstract knowledge; the greater force of moral principle; the stronger and steadier adhesion to justice, equity, individual and national honor, and such like conservative influences. But not one of these was wholly lacking in the civilizations of the past. If our own nation is not to relapse into barbarism, it will be only because the disintegrating and destructive forces are determinedly resisted and overcome. We must press forward for education, temperance, purity, individual integrity, and all the virtues of Christian character. If eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, indefatigable labor is the price of Christian civilization.
Let our free school system succumb to the assaults made upon it; let our churches yield to indolence, selfishness, and irreligion, and go into decay; let the press cease to battle for purity, morality, honesty, and piety; let the immoral classes carry the elections in our cities, States, and nation, as they strive with all their force to do; let all those who are striving for righteousness fold their arms and cease from their labor—and we shall, as a people, rush to barbarism as the avalanche dashes down the mountain side.—Christian Statesman.
LEADERSHIP
By James White
TEXT. One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. Matt. 23: 8.
Jesus addressed these words to the twelve, in the hearing of the multitude. And while they were a rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees, they were also designed to impress the disciples with the great truth, that should be felt in all coming time, that Christ is the head and leader of the church.
The prophetic eye of the Son of God could look forward to the close of the Christian age, and take in at a glance the errors and dangers of the church. And we may look back over her sad history and see that strict adherence to the principle set forth in the text has been important to the purity of the church, while departure from it has marked the progress of different forms of corrupted Christianity. The most prominent among these is the Roman church, which has set one man over the church whose claims to infallibility are sustained by that corrupt body.
In the discussion of the subject of leadership, we propose to bring out evidence from the words of Christ, and from the teaching and practices of the early apostles, that Christ is the leader of his people, and that the work and office of leadership has not been laid upon any one person, at any one time, in the Christian age. And for the views presented in this discourse we wish to be alone held responsible.
At the very commencement, in laying the foundation of the Christian church, as Jesus was walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw “two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matt. 4: 18, 19. “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he saith unto him, Follow me.” Chap. 9: 9. “And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom; and he said unto him, Follow me.” Luke 5: 27. “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. 19: 27, 28.
The transfiguration was designed, not only to illustrate the future kingdom of glory, after the resurrection and change to immortality, but to impress the church with the glory of Christ as her head and leader. No part of that grand scene could be more impressive than the bright cloud that overshadowed them, and the “voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Matt. 17: 5.
And at no time during his public ministry does Christ intimate that any one of his disciples should be designated as their leader. He does say, however, that he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Matt. 23: 11. And on the occasion of submitting the great commission to his first ministers, to be perpetuated in the Christian ministry to the close of the age, Christ gives the pledge that ever has been and ever will be the supporting staff of every true minister, “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” Matt. 28: 20.
Christ’s ministers have ever had a world-wide message, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations.” And wherever their footprints have been seen upon the mountains, or in the valleys, there Christ has been by the ministration of his holy angels, and the teachings of the Holy Ghost. “I am with you” is the soul-inspiring promise to every true minister. Christ proposes to lead his servants, and it is their privilege to approach the throne of grace, and receive from their sovereign Leader fresh rations, and orders direct from headquarters.
And there is no intimation that the apostles of Christ designated one of their number above another as their leader. Paul would have the Corinthians follow him only as he followed Christ. He says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.” 1 Cor. 11: 1, 2. Paul, so far from claiming to be the head of the church at Corinth, and securing their obedience, sympathy, and benevolence on this ground, would shake them off from seeking to be directed by him. He exalts Christ as their leader in the first sentence of the very next verse. “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ.”
Christ’s ministers are shepherds of the flock, and leaders of the people in a subordinate sense. Peter exhorts the under shepherds in these words, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” He not only shows the relation which ministers sustain to the flock in the foregoing, but he also plainly states in the following the relation which they sustain to one another. Mutual submission is demanded of all in the spirit of humility, in all their labors and councils, while age and experience are regarded as worthy of especial respect by the younger. The apostle continues, “Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Paul enjoins obedience and submission in his epistle to the Hebrews. But he does not require this in particular for himself, or for any other one who may be regarded as the chosen leader of the church. He pleads in behalf of all faithful ministers in these words: “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end [object or subject] of their conversation. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Chap. 13: 7, 8. Again he says in verse 17 of the same chapter: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you.”
The apostle exalts Christ as the great head of the church, and the only one to whom she should look for leadership, in Heb. 12: 1, 2. He would have the church benefited by the experiences of the heroes of faith, mentioned in the eleventh chapter, called in the first verse of the twelfth a cloud of witnesses. But he faithfully guards the church against looking back to them with a spirit of idolatry, or accepting any man as their leader or pattern of the Christian life, in these three words: “Looking unto Jesus.” Paul says: “Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
All true ministers are Christ’s ambassadors. “Now then we are ambassadors [embassadors] for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Cor. 5: 20. In their ministry they are to represent the doctrine of Christ, and the interests of his cause in this world. They surrender their own judgment and will to Him who has sent them. No man can be Christ’s ambassador until he has made a complete surrender of his right of private judgment to Christ. Neither can any man properly represent Christ who surrenders his judgment to his fellow-man.
The apostle compares two faithful leaders in his epistle to the Hebrews. Are they Moses and Peter? or Moses and Paul? or Moses and Luther? or Moses and Wesley? or Moses and Miller? We need not say that they are Moses and Christ.
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; but Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Heb. 3: 1–6.
The points clearly stated in the foregoing quotation, to which we call close attention, are as follows:—
1. As prophets, or teachers of the people, Moses and Christ were alike. Deut. 18: 18; Acts 3: 22. It is also stated that both were alike faithful. But in other respects they were unlike. Christ was counted worthy of more honor than Moses. How much? Here a figure of a builder and the house he builds is given to illustrate. The carpenter represents Christ, and the house he builds represents, not the physical system of Moses by any means, but rather what is called the Mosaic system, the typical system of the Jewish religion. This proves just what we have often affirmed, and again here repeat, that Christ is no less the author of the Jewish system than he is of the Christian.
2. Moses was simply a faithful servant in the Jewish house, while Christ is a son over his own house. Moses was not a lord in the Jewish house. He was servant, while Christ was lord.
The typical system related to redemption no less than the Christian. And everything in the Bible, whether in the figures of the Old Testament, or in the facts of the New, has been revealed to a lost world through our adorable Redeemer.
Christ, then, is the leader of his people in all the ages. At the opening of the Jewish system, he chose one man as a subordinate leader of the people. At the beginning of the Christian church, he chose twelve. Moses was a faithful servant in the former. And Christ said of the twelve in the latter, “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” As a servant in the Jewish church, Moses led the Hebrews in the wilderness, not by his own wisdom, however superior, but by direct communications from Christ, who was the angel that was with him in the church in the wilderness. Acts 7: 37, 38. And Christ leads the Christian church, by his ambassadors, through the ministration of angels, attended by the Holy Spirit, in harmony with the written word.
The foregoing expresses our solemn convictions relative to the leadership of Christ, and the relation which his ministers sustain to their great Leader, to one another, and to the church. But too many have left the great question of leadership here, with the truth expressed only in part. They have passed over the teachings of Christ and his apostles, relative to discipline, and the proper means of securing unity in the ministry and in the church, and do not let them have their proper qualifying bearing upon the subject. This has opened a wide door for men to enter the ministry who had not submitted their judgment and will to Christ as their leader, while at the same time they take the broadest ground, and exercise the greatest freedom relative to the right of private judgment. Creed power has been called to the rescue in vain. It has been truly said that “The American people are a nation of lords.” In a land of boasted freedom of thought and of conscience, like ours, church force cannot produce unity; but has caused divisions, and has given rise to religious sects and parties almost innumerable. And there are not a few professing Christians who reject church organization on account of the use that has been made of creed and church power. Some of these, however, in their mistaken zeal, in the advocacy of religious freedom, are disposed to trample on the rights of others, and use their boasted “liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.”
The remedy, however, for these deplorable evils is found in the proper use of the simple organization, and church order set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, and in the means Christ has ordained for the unity and perfection of the church. That he has appointed officers, and also other means by which to lead his people, and for the good order, purity, and unity of the church is abundantly proved by such texts as 1 Cor. 12: 28–30; Eph. 4: 11–13. And no man can show proof that these have been removed from the church by the authority that placed them there, or give any good reasons why they should be removed.
But here we wish it distinctly understood that officers were not ordained in the Christian church, to order, or to command the church, and “to lord it over God’s heritage.” In the case of difference of opinion that arose in some of the primitive churches relative to circumcision and the keeping of the law of Moses, recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, the apostles and elders at Jerusalem acted as counselors, in a manner to give room for the Holy Ghost to act as Judge. Christ will lead his people, if they will be led. He came into that assembly by his Spirit, and found apostles, elders, and all the brotherhood in a teachable frame of mind and at once led them out of their difficulties. In this case, at an early date in the Christian church the true doctrine of the leadership of Christ and the equality of the ministerial brotherhood stands the test, and the triumphant record is immortalized among the acts of inspired men.
The report of that meeting at Jerusalem to settle a festering difficulty, commences on this wise: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” And the brethren which were from among the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria and Celicia, “rejoiced for the consolation.” Differences settled in this way frequently seem more than settled, and generally remain settled; while those disposed of by the exercise of mere church authority are seldom really settled at all.
But when we say that the ambassador for Christ cannot yield his judgment to any but Christ, we do not mean that a young minister, or any one whose ministry has been marked with serious imperfections, and even grave mistakes, should exalt his opinion above his brethren, and turn away his ear from their entreaties and admonitions, under the plea that Christ is his leader. And, on the other hand, the minister who submits his ministry to a superior, the bishop, the president, or one in authority in the church, to be sent out and directed in his ministry, cannot in the fullest sense, be Christ’s ambassador. Again we repeat the golden text: “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.”
Between the two extremes we find the grand secret of unity and efficiency in the ministry and in the church of God. Our attention is called to this in a most solemn appeal from the venerable apostle Peter to the elders of his time. “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” 1 Pet. 5: 1–6.
When Christ’s ministers sustain the relation to each other as exhorted in the foregoing, Christ, their glorious head and leader, will be with them in power, and lead them on in unity and in love.
In painful contrast with the foregoing are those ecclesiastical conferences and assemblies of our time, where ministers distinguish themselves by a spirit of strife and debate, and in the use of language which would be regarded as ungentlemanly, not to say unchristian, in all other respectable associations.
We affirm that there is not a single apology in all the book of God for disharmony of sentiment or spirit in the church of Christ. The means are ample to secure the high standard of unity expressed in these words of Paul: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no division among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Cor. 1: 10. Again he appeals to the church at Rome: “Now the God181of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 15: 5, 6.
We can find no better words to close our remarks upon this subject than the triumphant appeal of the great apostle. Hear him, as he sets forth the proper condition of mind of the true disciple, and the oneness and efficiency of the ample means to secure the unity and perfection of the church of Christ.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph. 4: 1–6.
The more definite means ordained in the church of God for her perfection and unity, should by no means be overlooked. Let the reader bear in mind that these were all given at the same time, for the same purpose, and all to cease at the same time. Have a part ceased? all have ceased. Does a portion continue? then all continue. Paul speaks of Christ’s endowment of the church thus: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Verses 11–13.
J. W.
How Many Sunday Meetings Are Mentioned in the Bible?
By T. S.
In the Review of June 2, 1874, it was stated that our brethren who were holding a tent-meeting in Oakland, Cal., had offered a reward of $500 for one text to prove any one of five propositions respecting the first day of the week, among which were the following:—
“4. That the disciples of Christ ever had a religious meeting in the day time of that day.
“5. That the disciples ever had more than one meeting even in the evening of the first day.”
A correspondent in New Jersey thinks she finds texts to prove more than one evening meeting on the first day of the week, and in addition to Acts 20:7, refers to John 20:19: “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.”
Was this a religious meeting? Had the disciples assembled on this occasion for religious worship? This is the point to be decided. What was the occasion of the disciples assembling at this time? Was it for fear of the Jews? Then certainly it could not have been a meeting for religious worship. The Lord had a little before been crucified and the disciples were in fear for their own lives. This was natural. But it is incredible to suppose that that fear would lead them to do the very things which had so excited the malice of the Jews. They might perhaps hold a religious meeting in spite of fear of persecution, but hardly because of it. They would very probably shut their doors on account of their fear, as John records.
We then come back to the question. What was the occasion of their assembling? Mark and Luke tell us plainly. In Mark 16:14 we have a record of the same meeting, and he says that it was as they sat at meat, or were partaking of their evening meal. And Luke (Acts 1:13) further explains by telling us that they had one common abode, and so would of course be together at the time of meals.
The facts then are simply these: The disciples had lost their Master by the fearful scenes of the crucifixion a short time before. They felt their own lives to be in peril. And they had shut themselves up in the upper room where they had one common abode, having bolted the doors for fear their enemies would seek them out to slay them. And they were there together partaking of their evening meal when the Lord appeared in their midst. It was not a religious meeting at all. Acts 20:7 still stands as the only record we have of a religious meeting on the first day of the week, and that only an evening meeting.