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OVR DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES
AS BAPTISTS, AND OUR 1
LI L ERA'! I RE NECES
SARY TO A TREE
A ND COMPLETE
EVANGELISM.
JA T. T I \TON., b. I*.
What is a tine and complete ivaii
and what principles are necs
•ssarv to it? First of all. stands
the great utterance of Christ to the.
Jewish ruler, ‘"Ye iiHbt be born
again.” Per-anal regeneration as
Lum necessary thing to lit a man for
Uiieviug the Kingdom of Heaven,
whether in this life or the m xt,
whither lire visible churches or the
Hereafter of gloiv; such was the
central truth in Christ’s preaching.,
Vvf anditorv he had before him.
To the unlerrncd and. frail woman at,
the well of Jacob, and to the learned
and powrfnl Nicodemus, Jesus
taught alike the great truth- the
nvcesbiiy of regeneration —that tach
human soul must be born of the
Spirit, and thus Lorn to an eternal
life. There can be n® true evangelism
in which this truth is not given the
prominence and the emphasis which
Jesus gave it win u talking to Nico*
demns, and meeting his doubts with
the more emphatic reiteration of the
truth. “Verily, verily, 1 say unto
thee, except a man be born of wafer
ami of Ihe it. he cannot enter
into the Kingdom of God.
souls are the lively
O » ;
stoni s of that temple which the,
Holv Spirit is building for tlm glory
of God. On the broad foundation
of Chiist’s atonemei I, the Spiiii.
Builds up churebis of regenerated,
souls, to stand forth as types of that
grand upper temple, whose top-stone
shall be laid when the I i-t ransomed
soul goes home tn glory, amid the,
churns of tbca ,, gc‘s shouting. “GraCn
grace unto it.” There can be no
evangelism that de-ervee the name,,
which does not press home to inch's
c nscienccs their need of regenera
tion, ami all that widt h it involves.
Mur dm s not take kindly to this.
♦ toe . in-: ; he oLjcels t<» 1 ring bom
again in r. he i> old; thinks it be*.
1 eath Lis dignity to become as aiitlh
I. now t' it he has become .; min
' put away childish things hi
tel log faitli. his (justing love,
■n ! I.is seti-c of need of a strength
greater than his own. Yet. is there
no other way of salvation possible;
for the Master has raid, ‘ Except ye
be coiiV(.rl?d and become as little
childrr n, y.? sh ill not enter into t e
kingdom of heaven.'
The gospel, like the law. comes 1
heme to men as individn ds. From
the fl lining Sinai, God said to the .
thousands <>f I-rael, not. shall.
not,” but i 'tho>i shult not." The
gospel know, nothing of multitudes;
only of s< parate souls. While men's
plans to remedy the evils in the
world have been to lift the race as a
whole, the gospel goes down into the
depths, takes each man by the hand,
Sets him upon his feel with his face
Zionwurds, and bids him lift up the
brother nearest him. And while the
grandest schema for the elevation of
(her ace into ‘‘sweetness and light”
1 ave resultedoniy in pretty sentences,
over which the’ sentimental sighed,
while the vast stream of guilt rolled
on und ecked, this gospel has raised
up multiplied thousands from the
corruption of death, an 1 made them
kings and priests unto God forever.
AVg are linked together by a thousand
ties, yet in the deepest sense we
Ftand alone in the universe —alone
with God. Round even soul there
is nu invisible and impenetrable wall
shutting it oft’from the knowledge
even of the nearest and dearest
friends; but within that wall i- God,
in whom we indeed “live and move
and have our being." He will have
no creature between himself and each
soul that he has made, and the sense
of personal responsibility is the
highest faculty with which he has
gifted us-, it is the crown of human
ity which raises us above the brutes,
and makes us but “a little lower
than the angels.” A true and com*
W Viinnef.
pletc evangelism must appeal to this I
' sense of personal responsibility. The '
1 soul must be trained to go. not once
1 a year, but daily into that holy of
holies, where with all human voices
J 1
hushed, and standing before the .
mercy seat the man can listen to the i
word of God, and can look so stead- ,
lastly into those “deep pathetic eyes
that closed in death to save him,”
that God's smile will hide all the
frowns of men, and his frown darken
the earth though all men smiled,
As a logical corollary from the ne
cessity of iegeneration and personal
accountability, there follows the doe
trine of a conceited church-member
ship, as indispensable to a. tine and
'complete evangelism. When 1 look
I
ov< r the churches and see bow bun
gry they are for numbers, and how
! eager to make large repoits I am
1 tempted to believe that statistics are
an invention of the enemy. The
woist place in the world for an unre
generiited man, is inside a church
There l as been no narcotic found in
all Satan’s pharmacopoeia which will
so dead<n the conscience to a sense
of guilt, as the mere fact of church*
; membership. The .-inner, inside the
: ehn ch, it moral and innocent of in
tentional pypocri.-y, feels that the
. recognition of the church in some way
aids in hh salvation. All appeals to
the iiucoiiVi rtid pass him by unheed
ed. It would be rule to in-imate
• that he, in full fellowship and good
1 standing, is in “the gall < 1 bitterness
1 and the bonds of iniquity.”
But the evi’s of an unconverted
1 ctinrc'i-meml ctsliip, are far from be
ing confimd to those who sic thus
lulled into a f dal peace. The power
iof the church is weakened*. A man
who has never seen the deadly git li
of -in through the enlightening of
th<A Holy Spirit, is not the man to J
feel “woe is me if souls tire not ,
saved-’ If he is a man of natural;
' abili y ami energy, be may l.ceonm
a “kttdiog bro*her"—interested in,
putting upa magnifier’it house of
worship, wi.h a magnificent mort
gage. lie will head the subscrips
lion to Luy a big organ, to make the ;
members cf the e inch across the |
• way green with tnvy. He will give
liberally to secure for the choir the
• service of a star singer from an ope
ra, and is peiJectly willing. if she
will but trill and quaver, and dis
play her powers by a series of gym
nasties, for her to sing in an unknown
longue or in no tongue at all. prais*
' ing God being in Ids eves no mccs-'
i.ary part of the Sunday’s musical'
performance. He will persuade the'
chinch to call Rev. Dr. Big Gun, be
cause he will “draw, ’’ it being un
derstood that the chief end of a min
istcr is to “draw,” and that of a ser
mem is to entertain toe congrega
tion. These are the brethren who
would have the pastor smooth away
the oi l doctiines that are so disa
greeable to the carnal heart, and
would be aghast if their preacher
spoke with the forcible abruptness
which Christ used to Nicodemus.
One of these unconverted men. full
of energy and of what he called
“snap," was deacon of a church out
West, and was always afraid his
pastor would say som.thing offensive
to some one “What will be ycur
subject on Sunday?” he one day
, asked his pastor. To the answer,
; “Temperance,’’ he made reply : Oh,
do r.ot preach about that; there are
1 several drinking men who attend our
: church and give liberally, and you
ii will offend them.” “Well,” said the
pastor, “you did not want me to
' preach about honesty last Sunday,
Im cause Gen. A 's brother lately
; ■ proved a defaulter. Pray, what sub
ject can 1 take ?” After a minute’s
; reflection, the deacon answered.
: “Preach against the Mormons, they
i haven't a friend in town.’’
■ When the singing is a mere dis
; play of human voices, with no pur-
! 1 pose to worship God, and when the
• preaching is simply entertainment.
, with nothing to rustle the peaceful
souls who have no interest in the
Mormons, pray what power will that
•AM I TIIKRKFOKE BECOME YOVII ENEMY, BECAUSE 1 TEll. YOU THE TRUTH?'’
CUMMING. GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 18. 1880-
church have in the world’? AVhom.
will it convince “of sin, of righteous
ness, and of judgment How many
will it bring to Christ, though it
may have a long roll of members
who accept the offers of flowcry beds
of ease, in which to be conveyed to
heaven ? The devil of formalism
enters that church, bringing with
him seven other devils worse than
himself, and Jisus is again wounded
in Ilia house of his friends. Materi
al prosperity, a large membership,
and overflowing congregations, are
no measure of the success of a
e’uirch. That church succeeds best
which, leads the largest number of
souls to Chr&l, ami guilds up the
noblest Chiistian character in its
members.
A convcitcd church membership
there must be no goats, much less
wolves in sheep’s clothing, in the
flock of the Great Shepherd. The
■goatswill not know his voice, nor
, will they follow him; but will stray
and lea 1 off the young sheep into
i the desert, where, the Shepherd will
I find them ‘‘with fleeces torn and eyes
i full of fear.” Evi! is fearful in its
[lower to destroy good. One sound
I man cannot impart health to a hos
i pital, while one diseased man may
i .spread contagion through an entire
! city One unconverted member can
deaden the zeal of a score of Chris
tians, or turn that z.oal into the chans
nei of parade and ostentation. A
i church is a power for good in dire ct
1 proporfion to the spiritual life of its
members. The battle is not Io the
strong in numbers, or to the strong
in wealth, but to the .strong in faith
and hope and love. No human con
trivance can convert one sinner, just
as no scientific appliance can raise a
dead body to life. Life rpiiilutd and
life temporal are alike b-.yond the
reach of man’s power; he can reject
the one and take the other; he can
give neither. The Spirit must move
ujion the face of I he wa'ers, and that
Spirit is ready Io act where two or
three a re gathered together in Chiist’s
name, not where hundreds Lave come
to be enter! ;iucd by operatic music
and elo<['.a'.nt essays nii current topics.
The Spirit has but one weapon, so
fur as has been r<'voa’ed that old
sword which lias pierced so many
hearts to the “dividing asunder of
soul and spirit and of the joints and
marrow.’’ But hearts are not to be
pierced by that sword when its edge
h is been ground off for fear of hurt
ing some one.
(oven an unconveited church, and
an unconverted ministry soon follows;
“like pcmple, like priest.” \n uncon
verted minister is very glad to pad
the old gosjiul sword, covering its
rdge with silken cushions, that it
may wound no man. They arc anx
ious to tell some new thing; this old
gospel grows stale to them, and they
are ready to preach anything else,
though they may not avow their pur
pose as frankly as did the preacher 1
heard of in one of our large cities.
Said he, “1 have been foi’ several
[years preaching about the gospel,
' and have said all there is to be said
on the subject. 1 now propose to
preach on architecture, and will begin
next Sunday with the Doric order.
The old doctrines of Christ and his
apostles are no more acceptable to
an unconverted heart in the pulpit
than in the pew ; and unregenerate
ministers, if thinking men, are apt to
drift away from them. They doubt
the eternal punishment of the wick
ed; they find themselves wiser than
Christ concerning the Scriptures; they
seek to “save the Bible” by paring it
away, and shaping it to suit the sen
sualism of the day. But men are not
to be saved in this way from their
sins. I'nconvcrted ministers find the
latest news “fresher” than the old
story of Christ and him crucified,
and liberalism easier to preach than
God’s remedy for sin. How can we
expect them to labor for the conver
sion of souls, and to “warn every one
night and day with tears,” when they
have never themselves been convert
-Icd ? How can lliev know of the need
of a new birth, when the light of life
in Christ lias never broken over their
eyes? And so surely as night fol
lows day, so surely an unconverted
ministry becomes an immoral and
corrupt ministry. Beautiful essays
on ethics will not make men pure ;
only faith in Christ is strong enough
to tame the brute within men which
civilization varnishes, but cannot
change. Given an unconverted
church, and you shall have an uncon
verted ministry, the gospel neglected,
vice and impurity rampant, and over
the nations that most terrible dark
ness of which Jesus spoke: “If the
light 'hat is in thee be darkness, how
great is that darkness?”
Du 1 draw too dm k a picture of
the evils* resulting from an uncon
verted church membership? The pic
turcs drawn by the history of the
world are darker still Recall for
yourselves the state of religion in
England when Wesley arose, preach
ing, though mingled with error, the
great truth, “Ye must be born again,”
when, according to Ryle, “drunken
ness, gambling, swearing, and licen
tiousness were hardly regarded as
r any vices at all.’’ Think of the un
speakable rileuess of the Roman
Catholic Church, when Luther took
that journey to Rome which opened
his eyes beyond the power ot I’apal
charmers to close them again, charm
they never so wisely. AVe see the
same ti uth illustrated in the Lutheran
churches of Germany, dead in their
formulism, diifting with the tide of
rationalism, powerless for good, can
dlesticks whoso lights have been re
moved. And in New Englund, the
same .stern lesson was taught again,
when churches cut from their anchors
Jknd drifted into Vnitarianisn', L'ni
versalism, and Free Religion; while
an the general wreck of Orthodoxy
qhe, Ikipti.-is alone stood firm and un
shaken in their devotion to truth, be
cause they alone h d taught stead
fastly the great truths necessary to a
true and comp’cte evangelism- the
necessity of a new birth, individual
responsibility, and a converted church
membership.
If asked to mime Ihe chief dis
tinctive principle of Baptists, I would
answer: “The doctrine of a con
verted church-membership.” Only
Baptists have uniformly ami in all
their history insisted upon regenera
tion ns a pre-requisite to church
memberbhip. They alono, through
the ages, have kept this gc.-pel lamp
trimmed and burning, throwing its
light over the darkness of the world
Others have at times stood Ly us:
but, alas! their receiving the uncon
verted into their churches Ly infant
baptism, has ltd them astray. There
is not a useless doctrine in all Reve
lation; not one which is not needful
toa true and complete evangelism;
and the Baptists alone hold ail these
truths, and at the same lime main
tain the ordinances in their primitive
simplicity and purity. Therefore, on
us devolves a peculiar responsibility
in the great work of conquering the
world for Christ. Not that wc are
better than others; not that I would
claim for Baptists a monopoly of
truth or of piety, or would fail to ro
cognize whatever is good in other
denominations; but if our distincts
ive principles arc true, then those
who refuse to accept them must, so
far, be in error, and upon us, as upon
no other body of Christians, rests the
responsibility for spreading through
out the world a true and complete
evangelism. Let us not, as Baptists,
cherish toward others the harsh and
exclusive spirit of the Apostle John,
when he said: “Master, we saw one
casting out devils in thy name, and
he folioweth not us: and we forbade
him, because he followeth not us;”
but rather the noble spirit of the
Apostle I‘aul, when he declared,-
“Notwithstanding evt ry way, w hether
in pretense or in truth, Christ is
preached: and 1 therein do rejoice,
yea, and will rejoice."
“L uto whomsoever much i» given,
jf him shall much be required. ’ 11
God lias led ns into three great truths
he demands of us the more earnest!
effort to spread them among men.—
Whoever else is quiet and indiffer
ent, wc must be earnest, resolute and i
untiring in a warfare with evil which ;
knows no truce, no discharge, no
compromise. We, of all men, dare
not stand with folded hands, while
infidelity eats out the lives of the
churches, ami ritualism mocks Christ
with its offering of Dead Sea apples.
Our distinctive principles are neces
sary to a true and complete evangel-;
ism; the world must be evangelized,;
and we must be up and doing. AVe.
must not think the truth of these ■
principles so plain that men cannot
help seeing them. Prejudice, educa
tion, evil hearts of unbelief, Satan
and bis allies, the world and the flesh
can blind men’s eyes to «/»»/ truth,
however plain. Angels might see
them at a glance; but wc are not!
called to evangelize angels, but poor i
fallen, fallible men, who will “love
darkness rather than light.”
And in order that these distinctive
principles shall go forth conquering
and to conquer, wc must, first of all,
believe them ourselves heartily. He
who is not firmly convinced of the
truth he utters, cannot convince oth
ers. To pull men out of the slough;
one must stand on solid rock, not on
sinking sand. Earnest men move the
world, and they alone are like the
lightning bolt which shatters, rather
than the Aurora Borealis which daz
zles, but leaves no mark behind. —
AVe must echo Paul’s grand “I know;”
the world is too busy and life too
short for men to stop to listen long
to “I think,” “I hope,” “I suppose.” i
I‘Wavering souls rally around firm
ones," said Reveillaud, lately brought j
from infidelity to Jesus; and John ;
Stuart Mill declared, “one person;
with a belief is a social power equal ,
to ninety-nine that have only inter-:
csts.” AVe want men who know that
these tilings arc so, and are on lire;
to make the world believe them; so.
shall a true evangelism go forth for
tiie saving of the nations, and the '
knowledge of the glory of God rise
higher and higher till “as the waters
cover the sea,” the earth shall be en-j
veloped, and all that is false and base .
and unholy, perish beneath the pu
rifying waves.
But something more is necessary
for the true and complete evangelism
of the world. We must have a lite
rature which shall reach and teach,
the people in their homos. The only ’
way ever discovered to keep weeds :
out of a field, is to plant a crop and .
cultivate it cai ehilly. The world will
read, and there is no more pressing;
duty before us than to see that men:
are furnished with a literature which;
shall teach the w hole truth as we be
lieve. As in the Garden of Eden be
fore the wondering eyes of our first
parents, so fronting every one in civ
ilized lauds is the tree of the knowl
edge of good and evil. This tree is ;
the printing-press, ami the fruit
thereof is the literature it produces, i
There is, indeed, fruit which shall l
“enlighten the eyes,” and “leaves [
which arc for the healing of the na- ’
Lions"; but there is also fruit that is!
poison, and leaves deadly as those of
the fabled Upas tree. And Satan
still stands under the tree, offering
men fruit which is deadly, and using!
the old argument that proved so fatal
to Evo. Mei), blinded by curiosity;
and self-confidence, w ill read danger-;
ous books and be poisoned thereby.
For such is the insidious nature of
evil that not one man in a thousand
is as good after reading a bad book
as he was before. It may be neces
sary now and then for some man to:
read, say such a book as Renan’s Life '
of Christ that he may answer it, and:
the good he can do others will com- 1
punsale for the evil he docs himself,
In the same way, it may be necessary
for a physician to expose himself to
contagion that he may learn how to!
cure an infectious disease. But very
few are called on to thus harm them-.'
selves.
The evil ol one batl I’uuk among
manv good unci’, is well shown mi
Vo). 4, No. 31.
the life of-John Haiidoldh of Rotmokei
W hen a young man, some one gaVe
him llnine’s Essays to read, in order 1 ..
to “develop his individuality/’
“broaden his culture,” and bring hint
“abreast of the times.” I believe
those are among the stock phfaSeH
that Satan uses to , *day when seeking
to lead men astray. But the giver
also gave Randolph ail answer to the
infidel book, as an antidote to lira
poison to counteract its effect. In
after years, he wrote to a friend ail
nounciug his conversion, and Baldi
“the antidote was not equal to the
poison.” For years, his mind had
many a bitter conflict with his doubts
ere he could accept Christ and find
peace in believing. How many eth
ers have found “the antidote not
equal to the poison” and have neVef
come to the light, only eternity will
tell.
Let no one rend a vile book, a false
book-, or a semi-infidel book. There
are ministers who can tell you what
the infidels of the day think, but who
would be Utterly blank if asked what
was the subject of Zechariah's proph
ecy, It seems very necessary for
them to be “abreast of the times,' 1
but by no means necessary for them
to be familiar with their Bibles. And
thus they must needs seek for a
skeptical literature, and neglect that
which expounds the plain old truths
of the Scriptures. Thus they beget
doubt in the pew, in the minds of
those who never would have doubted
but for the sermons to which they
listened; as in the case of the old
man at Oxford who said: “1 have
heard all the sermons preached at
this university fur thirty years, and,
thank God, I’m a Christian stilL”
Ministers give the views of some
master infidel, and their argumcnls
in reply arc often puerile, so that the
“antidote is not equal to the poison.”
Moreover, men are not converted by
arguing against their errors. Felix
would not have trembled had Paul
gone into a disquisition to prove
there were no such beings as Jupiter
and Minerva, and that the Delphic
oracle was simply mephitic gas. And
till the end of time the one way to
make men tremble is to strike
straight at their consciences with law
and gospel; so shall they be made to
tremble before the law, and be melt
ed into contrition by the story of tbo
crous.
I make no claim to what passes
current in some quarters under the
name of liberality. Ido not believe
that a lie is entitled to as much con
sideration as a truth ; nor would I
give falsehood, any more than yellow
fever, a fair chance in the world.
Not that I would invoke sword and
fagot. By no means moral battles
must be fought with moral weapons.
Let the skeptic talk as loudly as he
pleases; I would persuade all men
to turn away their eais. Let him
write as many books as he wishes ; I
would educate public opinion so that
no man would buy or read them. I
would have the young especially
guarded from error, trained in the
truth, and clad in the whole armor
of God. Truth is narrow, while
error is broad. There is but one
true account of any event, while there
may be a thousand false accounts,
and so of any point in science or re
ligion, there is but one true belief to
a thousand erroneous ones But
while truth is narrow, it is amply
sufficient for the exercise of all our
l»owers throughout eternity.
Richard Cecil said : “The church
has endured a pagan and a papal
persecution. There remains fur her
an infidel persecution, general, bitter,
purifying, anil cementing,” That
persecution is now upon us. general
and bitter. Gud grant that it may
bo purifying and cementing. It is
coming now in its deadliest form, in
those half-truths which Tennyson
says are ever the worst of lies. Ob,
for days like those, before men sought
to mix good and evil in one “univer-.
sal patent treacle ,” when men either
believed or disbelieved with all their-
i f 'oncluded. on Ith pag': ]