THIS IS THE CHURCH
By Alonzo T.
Jones
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CHRISTIAN
UNITY Christian
Unity is always among the Christian things that are of the greatest
importance. Yet while Christian Unity is in itself of great
importance, to know what it is, is of greater importance. This is
because to desire, and to strive for, and to promote, as Christian Unity
what is not Christian Unity at all is a most dangerous mistake and an
immense loss. Much of just this has been done, and much of it is being done
just now as a part of the several great “movements” in and by the churches
that are now being urged. In studying
Christian Unity for what it really is, it will be helpful first of all
plainly to state what it is not. One of the clearest expressions of
what it is not is the following prodigiously false statement of
what it is: “1. Unity of doctrine and faith,
which consists in the common accord of all the Faithful in admitting and
believing all that the teaching church pro-poses to them as revealed or
confirmed by Jesus Christ. “2. Unity of government,
which produces unity of communion, and which consists in the submission of
all the Faithful to their respective bishops and in particular to the Roman
Pontiff, supreme Head of the church.” Yet
utterly false and Romish as all of that is, take away from it only the part
that pertains to “the Roman Pontiff,” and it fairly expresses the view of
every denomination in the world as to what is Christian Unity. But Christian
Unity is altogether another thing than is any of that; and is as far higher
than all of that as Heaven is higher than the earth. Uniting
of Christians upon doctrine, is not Christian Unity. Agreement of
Christians in belief, is not Christian Unity. Uniting or agreeing of
Christians upon a platform or statement of belief, or of doctrine, or
of principles, is not Christian Unity. Uniting of Christians in an agreed
assent and sub-mission to an order of church organization or church-government,
is not Christian Unity. Union of purpose or of effort of Christians or among
Christians in promoting a cause, is not Christian Unity. Free and
pleasant fraternal association of Christians, is not Christian Unity. Christians
might have all of these things in one combination, indeed many of them
do, and yet not have Christian Unity at all. Christian Unity is far more and
far higher than is any association or denomination or federation or council
even of all the Christians in the world for any purpose or upon any
platform or in any cause or in submission to any church-government. And
it is so well worth having that it is worth more than all other things put 2 together. Come then, let us know what it
is in its pure truth and splendid worth, and then let us have it for all that
it is worth. THE CHURCH
OF GOD In entering upon the study of
The Church of the Living God, there is an essential that should first be
considered: and not only first, but first and last and all the time. That
essential is, The Place of the Holy Spirit. In the preceding study
booklet, The Greater Purpose, it was related how that at the beginning of the
building of The Church according to the new order of the eleven apostles, all
of whom had been personally chosen, and called, and taught for three years,
and ordained, and commissioned, by the Lord Himself, to go and preach the
Gospel in all the world, were not al-lowed to go anywhere not to preach at
all till they were endued with power from on high in the baptism with the
Holy Spirit. And they must tarry in Jerusalem and wait for that baptism. At Pentecost that Baptism
came. The Holy Spirit took His place, which was the first place of all. Then
they preached the Gospel and the work went on. And that work went on with
always the Holy Spirit in His own place, and that the first place of all and over all and through all and in all. This is God’s way
with His Church and in His Church, and it must be our way. Let us trace for a little
distance, this way of the Lord in and with His own Church: before man usurped
the place of the Lord, and machinery the place of the Holy Spirit. The second chapter of Acts is
the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Peter’s sermon
telling that this was the fulfillment of the prophecy by Joel that God would
pour out His Spirit “upon all flesh,” and the call to all to repent and be
baptized, “and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” The third and fourth chapters
tell of the healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple, of Peter’s
sermon to the crowd that gathered and of Peter and John being arrested and
imprisoned by the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees of the
Sanhedrin, of the trial next day by the great council where “Peter, filled
with the Holy Ghost,” made answer; and being let go, the two apostles went to
their own company where they all 3 together prayed “and they were
all filled with
the Holy Ghost.” The fifth chapter tells of the
trick of Ananias and Sapphira in the matter of
their agreeing to deceive as to the sale and gift of their property. And this
was “to lie to the Holy Ghost,” and “to tempt the Spirit of the Lord.” The
consequences were immediate and dreadful. Then the apostles were all
arrested by the high priest and council and were imprisoned for trial again.
“But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them
forth, and said Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words
of this Life.” Again they were arrested and brought before the council “and
all the senate of the children of Israel,” where again Peter “and the other
apostles” preached the Gospel and declared. “We are witnesses of these things,
and so also is the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” The sixth and seventh chapters
tell of the choosing of men “full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom” to have
charge of the “business” in “the daily ministration;” and of Stephen “a man
full of faith and of the Holy Ghost” speaking before the council with his
face shining “as it had been the face of an angel,” and of his “being full of
the Holy Ghost” and looking up into heaven and seeing “the glory of God and
Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” The eighth chapter tells of
the preaching by Philip in Samaria, and of their receiving “the Holy Ghost;”
and of “the angel of the Lord” telling Philip to go from Samaria away down to
the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza, where, when he arrived a man in a
chariot was just then passing and reading in the book of Isaiah what is now
the fifty-third chapter, and “the Spirit said unto Philip Go near, join
thyself to this chariot.” Philip did so, and preached to him Jesus in that
same Scripture; the man believed and was baptized and went on his way
rejoicing; and the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw
him no more.” The ninth chapter tells of the
apprehension and conversion of the raging Saul, by the appearing of the Lord
Jesus Himself, of his being “filled with the Holy Ghost” by the laying on of
the hands of Ananias who was sent to him for this purpose by the Lord Jesus
“in a vision;” of “the churches walking in the fear of the Lord and the
comfort of the Holy Ghost;” and of the raising of Dorcas
from the dead. The tenth
chapter tells of
“an angel of
God” speaking to
Cornelius in a 4 vision and telling him to send
men to Joppa to call Peter to him; of a vision given to Peter to prepare for
the coming of the man; of the Spirit’s telling Peter that the men were
seeking him and that he was to go with them; of his going and preaching in
the house of Cornelius and “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the
word.” The eleventh chapter tells of
the rehearsal of the foregoing experience to the Pharisaic believer at
Jerusalem who contended with him for what had been done; of the preaching of
the Gospel to the Gentiles in Antioch, and of the sending of Barnabas over
there “For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” The twelfth chapter is the
story of the deliverance of Peter from prison by the angel of the Lord; and
Herod’s death from being smitten by the angel of the Lord. The thirteenth and fourteenth
chapters tell of “the Holy Ghost” saying to the church at Antioch, “Separate
Me Barnabas and Saul for the work where-unto I have called them,” and of
their “being sent forth by the Holy Ghost;” of Saul, “full of the Holy Ghost”
rebuking the opposing sorcerer; of the preaching of the Gospel at Antioch in Pisidia and of the disciples being “filled with joy and
with the Holy Ghost.” The fifteenth chapter tells of
the settlement by the Holy Spirit of the controversy as to circumcision and
keeping the law for Salvation, and the sending forth of the letter saying,
“It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” The sixteenth chapter tells us
that Paul an apostle, and Silas a prophet “were forbidden of the Holy Ghost
to preach the word in Asia.” and assaying to go into Bithynia “the Spirit
suffered them not;” and thus traveling on, they were brought down to Troas
where in a “vision to Paul in the night a man of Macedonia called them over
there. And chapters seventeen and eighteen tell of their experiences there
and in Greece. Chapter nineteen tells that
Paul found at Ephesus “certain disciples” to whom he said, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” They
replied, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
“Unto what then were ye baptized?” “Unto John’s baptism.” Then Paul preached
Christ to them, and “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And
when Paul laid his hands upon them the Holy Ghost came on them; and they
spake with tongues and prophesied.” 5 In the twentieth chapter Paul
is on his way to Jerusalem, and he called the elders of the church at Ephesus
to meet him at Miletus; and in his words to them he said, “the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me;” and “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the flock of God.” In the twenty-first chapter,
when Paul came to Tyre the disciples “said unto Paul through the Spirit that
he should not go up to Jerusalem;” and when he came to Caesarea, the prophet
Agabus met him and “took Paul’s girdle and bound his own hands and feet, and
said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man
that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into
the hands of the Gentiles.” He went on to Jerusalem, and
beginning in the twenty-first chapter and reaching to the end of the book
there is one of the most remarkable chains of the direct providence and
working of God that ever occurred in the world. And the last words of Paul in
the book, begin with the great characteristic of the man and of the book,
“Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet,”
etc. From only this mere sketch of
the book of Acts it is perfectly plain that the one thing that stands out
plain and clear and prominent above all other things in the whole book and
throughout the whole book, is that the Holy Spirit was then the grand
sovereign, reigning, and guiding power in the Church and of the Church. And next to that one great
thing there stands clear and plain and prominent throughout, the splendid
corresponding truth that the Christians of the time constantly recognized and
gladly yielded that sovereignty and reign and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Everywhere God’s Spirit is recognized as first. In all things He is
considered first, and the first. If they had not done this, the record could
not have been what it is; for then the experience would not have been what it
was. Let Christians again so
recognize and yield the sovereignty and reign and guidance of the Holy Spirit
over and in themselves and over all things in and to the Church, then again
will experience of individuals of the Church prove to be what it was at the first;
for Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 6 Such only is the rightful
place of the Holy Spirit in individuals and in the Church; and Christ needs
only that Christians yield to Him that place and recognize Him in that place,
to prove Himself to be all that He ever was in the place that is supremely
His. Thus in all things of The
Church and to The Church and in The Church, the place of the Holy Spirit is
the first place. No step can be taken and nothing can be done in the right way
until the Holy Spirit is given His place. And this must be so now with
us in the study of this greatest of all things — The Church of the Living
God. For it is the truth that, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which in The Church God hath
prepared for them that love Him; but God hath revealed them unto us by His
Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea,
the deep things of God. CHURCH ORGANIZATION (1) The editor of a church paper
presents what is intended to be a strong incentive to “Organization” of the
people of the “Church of God.” This presentation is worth studying:
especially by the people to whom it is particularly addressed. It begins as
follows: “Organization is one of the
great and fundamental laws of the Universe of God. The all-wise Creator has
demonstrated this, on every hand, and it stands out visibly in all His
creation, as a living witness of strength, and the accomplishment of a
definite purpose in the earth. The trees of the forest, and the beasts of the
field, are each one a definite and wonderful organism: a separate being made
of many organs, all of which work together in harmony and system,
perpetuating the life, growth, and increase, of those of its kind. The human
body is a wonderful organized organism, each member of which works together
as one, all having the same and supreme purpose, of perpetuating its own
existence,” etc. . . . But, Who is the Organizer of
each and all of these wonderful organisms? Who organizes each tree of the
forest, each beast of the field, and each human body? Is not this Organizer,
in each and every case, just God and only God by His Spirit? Who ever knew or
thought of the branches of a tree, organizing a tree? or the members of a beast,
organizing that beast? or the members of any human body organizing that body?
There never was anything of the kind, and there never could be anything of
the kind. So it is 7 not a question of
Organization, but of whose Organization. The sole question always and in
every case is, Whose shall be the Organization? Who is properly and
originally the Organizer, and who shall continue the organizing, and whose
shall be the Organization? The human body is indeed a
wonderful organism: “fearfully and wonder-fully made; “ and made only by God
through Christ by His Spirit. Genesis 1:26-27; Job 33:4. Not all the
collective individual Christians and all the delegates and all the preachers
and all the bishops and all the conferences and all the Councils that ever
were in the world, all put together at once, could organize the human body.
They would not know, and could not know, how to make the first movement, or
even to think the first thought, toward it. It is all infinitely beyond all
their reach or realm; and stands only within the realm and comprehension of
God. And anybody ever to undertake it, would have to be equal with God, and
God of God. So, in this it is not any
question of Organization. The sole question is, Who is the Organizer? and
whose is the Organization? Now the Divine Body — “the
Body of Christ which is The Church” — is a much more wonderful organism than
is the human body: as much more as the supremely Spiritual is more than the
human and natural. And just as none but God, through Christ by His Spirit
could possibly organize the Divine and Spiritual Body which is The Church.
And just so much the more would anybody who would undertake to organize this
Body have to be equal with God, and God of God. And that is just where the
Scripture places the one who first “thought” of it and undertook to do it:
“he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
That is not safe ground, for Christians. And still it is not any
question of Organization. The sole and only ground for question, is, Who is
and who shall be, the Organizer? and who is, and whose shall be, the
Organization? For the members of the body to under-take to organize the body,
in order to have a fully organized body they must necessarily “organize” a
head as well as any other part of the body. There-fore in their “organizing”
the “Body of Christ, which is The Church” they must “organize” a head of and
for that body. But Christ is the Head of that true body which is The Church:
and will any of these “organizers” say that they will “organize” Christ as
the Head of the body that they are organiz-ing? Oh!
no, of course not that. He is already organized, in God’s Organi-zation.
Christ is the Invisible Head. We “organize” with “a visible head” 8 and “organize” only “a visible
head.” And that is all that the
church of Rome ever claimed. And all that the church of Rome is or ever was,
is in that theory. Yes, “the trees of the forest
are, each one a definite and wonderful organ-ism.” And by the Lord, His true
children are called “trees” — “trees of righteousness, the planting of the
Lord, that He might be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3. And while it is true, as
before stated, that no such thing was ever known as the branches of any tree
undertaking to organize the tree: yet, sad to say, it is also true that once
upon a time the trees themselves did actually do the unreasonable thing of
organizing themselves into proposed “harmony and system” in which “to work
together.” The account of it is as follows: “The trees went forth on a
time to anoint a king over them and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou
over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness where
with by me they honor God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig
tree, Come thou and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I
forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the
trees? Then said the trees unto the
vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I
leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go
to be promoted over the trees?” Since they could not get any
tree that was good for anything, to be the head of their “organization” —
because those were all busy honoring God and
blessing men — they then appealed to the one that was good for nothing but to
be burned — “the bramble,” the thorn-bush. “Then said all the trees to
the bramble, Come thou and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the
trees, if in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust
under my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the
cedars of Lebanon.” Judges 9: 8-15. Did anybody ever with either
safety or comfort sit down in the shade of a thorn-bush? Yet that they do
this very thing, or else be burnt, were the only terms of the bargain. That
is, they were to put themselves in an arrange- 9 ment where they were certain to be pricked; and if they
refused that, then they were certain to be burnt. And they were so taken with
the idea of their own “organization” instead of God’s that they deliberately
entered into that unreasonable arrangement. They did make that bramble king
over them, when by every right and every sober consideration God was king
over them. They rejected God and chose the bramble; and in that they rejected
God’s Organization, and set up a structure of their own choice, “like all the
nations,” and called it “organization.” They asked Gideon with his son
and his son’s son to rule over them. But Gideon promptly replied, “I will not
rule over you. Neither shall my sons rule over you. The Lord shall rule over
you. Judges 8:23. But Gideon had a wild son, named Abimelech: and after the
death of Gideon this one killed sixty-nine of the sons of Gideon — all of his
sons but one — and was made king by the people of Shechem
and of the house of Millo, And at the end of three
years dissatisfaction entered and contentions arose, with the result that
Abimelech and his men slew all the people of Shechem
and of the house of Millo, and beat down to a total
ruin the city of Shechem, and next was himself
slain. But in spite of this frightful
outcome, to both sides of the attempt at “organization,” there still lingered
the wish to have a king. And in the days of Samuel, again the demand was
openly made. “Make us a king to judge us, like all the nations.” 1 Samuel
8:5. The Lord by Samuel protested solemnly against it all: and outlined before
them what would be the evil and the oppressions of their king and their
kingdom and their “organization.” But they would not listen, and still
insisted, “Nay, but we will have a king over us.” Verse 19. The Lord let them have their
persistent way. Yet He declared, “They have rejected Me, that I should not
reign over them.” Verse 7. They rejected God, to be “like all the nations.”
And speedily they became “Like all the nations” that rejected God: and
finally sealed it all, and their doom, with the wild and desperate
exclamation, “We have no king but Caesar!” What is the Meaning of all
this? Is there in it any warning, or any lesson, for God’s people in this
time or in any time? Or is it true that that part of the word of God is
empty, void, and dead? Where is any difference in principle between then
their call for a king, that they might be “like all the nations,” and now the
like call for a king, that they might be like all the denominations? 10 CHURCH ORGANIZATION (2) There has never been a system
of what is called “church organization” that has not demonstrated itself to
be as cruel as the devil. The theory is that such “church,” having the true
church organization, is “the true church,” which to be in is the surety of
eternal salvation, and which to be separated from is the guarantee of
forfeiture of eternal life. Now it is certain that in the
true Christian Church, only the true Christian Spirit must be found and only
this Spirit the prevailing one. Without this it is impossible that any church
can be true, and much less be the true. What then is the true and genuine
Christian Spirit? First of all it is only the
Holy Spirit of God: for the Lord would not allow His own chosen and ordained
and commissioned apostles to make a single move toward anything of The Church
until they had been “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” Luke 24:49; Acts 1: 4-5.
And of this the inevitable “fruit” is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;” and “Liberty;” for “Where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty” — liberty of thought, liberty of
speech, and liberty of action. Galatians 3:22; 2 Corinthians 3:17. This is
the Christian Spirit. And this is the Spirit that rules and is manifested in
every church that is Christian. And the manifestation of this Spirit is
definitely defined as — “The wisdom that is from above
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of
mercy and good fruits, without par-tiality, and
without hypocrisy.” James 3:17. Now in what is called “church
organization,” one man, or two men, or three men, or a few men invent and
form a “plan of organization,” and persuade people to accept it and to submit
to it: which is in fact to submit to the rule of the men who hold the
“offices,” and thereby hold “the keys” to open or shut heaven. And when the
“organization” is completed and in working order, then any member who is not
conforming to the will and workings of the officialdom is required to do so.
And if in obedience to Christ in His Spirit and in His truth, or is in his
Christian liberty to think and speak and act, he does not do so, he is
separated from the “organization” and ostracized from all recognition of the
“church” and “the brethren” and thus is completely excluded from “the
church.” And if any of the brethren disregard the exclusion of the Christian
brother and fellowship him and receive him into their houses, then they
immediately become subject to suspicion and to being “eyed:” and if this does
not prove corrective 11 then they must also be
separated. And the theory is that exclusion from that “church” means the loss
of eternal life. That is, for a man’s
disagreement with a man or a few men who “represent the church,” by these men
in their “representing the church,” and in that their “representing God,”
that man is deliberately deprived of eternal life! Now could the devil
himself be more cruel than that — to put such a penalty as that upon such an
“offence” as that, which in truth is no offence either to God or man? Eternal
death, for disagreement with a man! Yet, in brief, that is exactly the
process in and of the first such “church organization” — the false Catholic
church — and of every other structure that is called “church organization.” The Roman “organization” is
proud of it and boasts of it as proof of her divinity. Others repudiate that
“church” with her “organization” as “the man of sin,” “the mystery of
iniquity,” “the son of perdition,” and “the beast;” and yet build one of
their own on the same principle and after the same pattern; and with it do
the same thing. Some of these others, indeed, have enough discernment to see
the enormity of it, and compunction enough to try to evade it with the claim
that in their case it does not affect the loss of eternal life to the one
cast out; but is only his separation from the “organization” and its
“fellowship:” because “we believe in religious liberty!” But that is only a dodge and
camouflage. For, if that be true, it is a plain confession that their
“organization” and “fellowship” is not the true Church, but is no more than
is any other mere club. But they do not mean anything of the kind. They do
not mean to abate an iota of the claim that theirs is the true Church indeed
with all that this involves or implies: that to be in it means eternal life,
and that separation from it means eternal death. And by this claim it is that
they hold their power over the people. Does anybody think for a moment that
for a moment any of the people would endure what they do endure there, or
would stand in awe of that “church” authority or power, if they understood
that all that the “organization” and association amounts to is only that of a
mere human society or club? Yet in truth and in fact and in effect, just that
is all that it is. It is only the superstition that in some mysteriously
ineffable way the officialdom and hierarchy of the “organization” are
possessed of a spiritual power that can affect the standing of the souls of
men before God — it is only this superstition that causes the people against
their own conviction and their own common sense of the right, to endure or
sanction the “church” procedure in many and 12 various ways. What else than superstition
could it be that could cause people to think that some men in the “church”
through election by other men or by themselves are partakers or possessors of
spiritual authority or power to which all the other people of the “church”
must unquestioningly defer, or else jeopardize their soul with God? That is
precisely the principle, and the superstition, of the infallibility of the
pope. The pope is elected by the
cardinals, from among themselves, or by him-self. No cardinal possesses or
even claims any scintilla of infallibility. Yet when these cardinals who have
none of it, elect one of themselves, who have none of it, and thus occupies
the office and seat of pope, immediately he has all of it. How does he get
it? Where does it come from? Oh, from the office, from the seat, of course:
for it is only when he speaks ex cathedra, that is “from the chair,” that he
is infallible. And every other officialdom of
“church organization” is of the same stripe and the same superstition. WHICH ONE
IS THE TRUE? One of the livest
questions of the day is, What is the Church? And this is the most important
question that there ever could be in any day. All know that there are so many
things each one of which is claimed to be not only a church but The Church,
that everybody all the time is forced to the question of not only which is
the true Church, but what is the true Church? Each one of them claims and
asserts that it is the true Church: and yet in so many things and ways each
one is conducted and managed so unlike what is Christian, that its own
members as well as other people are kept perpetually under the question, Is
that the true Church? All of them but the first one
of them, are perfectly sure that the first one of them is not the true
Church: while that first one of them is just as perfectly sure that it is the
only true Church. And if the first one of them, the oldest one of them, the
one that has the advantage of far the longest time and the most and fullest
experience, the one that has had the benefit of “the ingenuity and patient
care of forty generations of statesmen” that have made it “the very
masterpiece of human wisdom” — if that one of them is not the true one of
them, then how can any other one of them be the true? Or in behalf of all the
others must it be the acknowledged principle of this sub- 13 ject, that the first one of them, the one with the most
experience of them all, is, and is certain to be the worst of them all. If this be the principle of
the thing, then is it not inevitable that as certainly as each or all of the
others shall be given time and experience, they will go the same way? And in
the like length of time will be each one just as bad as the first one? And if
that be not the principle of the thing, if age and experience have not made
the first one of them to be the worst one of them, then what ground or reason
of existence have all or any of the others, apart from that first one? This inevitable dilemma is
sought to be avoided by the plea, invariably adopted, that, The difficulty is
not in or with the principle: the principle is correct: the difficulty is in
the application of the principle: not the principle but the men. But that is
not any way of escape. For the application of the principle was, and must be
always by men. And these men were always just men — plain human beings — like
all other men. Always that principle will, and will have to be, applied by
men — just plain human beings — like all other men. Yet more that this: that is
exactly the plea of that first one of these claimed churches. All the
deviltry of the church of Rome, all the way, has been protested by members of
that church within that church. The enormities of iniquity practiced by and
in that church have been recorded and condemned and denounced by even the
high ones of that church — bishops, archbishops, even cardinals — and who
still remained orthodox members of that church because they held that the
evils were not of the church nor from the church, but of the men, and only
from the men who conducted the affairs of the church. Long before The
Reformation, men in that church had said harder things of the Pope and of the
conduct of that church than the reformers ever said: yet these still held
that it was still and ever the true church. The standard annalist of that
church itself, Cardinal Baronius, says of the
papacy in the tenth century: “In this century the
abomination of desolation was seen in the temple of the Lord: and in the See of St. Peter, reverenced by angels, were placed the
most wicked of men: not pontiffs but monsters.” And Bishop Robert of Lincoln,
in England, in the very presence of Pope Innocent IV and his cardinals, A. D.
1250, spoke out plainly to them: 14 “The clergy are a source of
pollution in the whole earth: they are anti-christs
and devils masquerading as angels of light, who make the house of prayer a
den of robbers: and the Roman curia is the source of all the vileness which
renders the priesthood a hissing and a reproach to Christianity.” They denounced the men and the
activities of the men, even of the popes and the papal court, and still
apologized and pleaded for “the church” — for the machine — that alone gave
to the men their power and their opportunity. They condemned the evil
practices but justified the system by which alone it was possible that these
practices could not only be perpetuated, but could even exist. Church-men were bad; but “the
church,” whose members and the expression of whose life those church-men
essentially were, was “the good!” Customs were pernicious; but
“the church,” whose the customs essentially were, was “the abode of
sanctity!” Practices were abominable: but
“the church,” which invented many and profited by all and corrected none of
the practices, was “holy!” Popes were demonic; but “the
church,” of which the popes were “the head” — the acting will, the guiding
mind — was “divine!” See the grand churches and
magnificent cathedrals! Hear the “heavenly” music of the “divine” chants!
Catch the impressive odor of the “holy” in-cense!
Feel the awe of the “solemn” service, as the richly-robed ecclesiastics
minister at the “altar,” kneel before the “host,” and move in “holy”
procession! Think of the wide extent of her “missions!” Behold her “perfect
organization,” by which she executes as by one man the wonders of her will,
holds empires in awe, and rules the world! Is not that the true and only
“holy church?” The church was “the ark of
God,” the “ship of Salvation.” The pilot, the captain, and the crew, might
all be pirates, and use every motion of the ship only for piratical purposes,
and load her to the sinking point with piratical plunder, and keep her headed
ever straight toward perdition, yet “the grand old ship” herself was all
right and would come safely to the heavenly port. Therefore, “cling to the
ark,” “stand by the old ship,” and you will be safe and will land at last on
the heavenly shore. 15 For instance, in direct
connection with the very passage already quoted from Cardinal Beronius, in which he describes the fearful conditions of
that church in the ninth century, there stand the Cardinal’s words as fol-lows: “Christ was then assuredly
sleeping a profound sleep in the bottom of His vessel whilst the winds
buffeted it on all sides and covered it with the waves of the sea. And what
was more unfortunate still, the dis-ciples of the
Lord slept more profoundly than He, and could not awaken Him either by their
cries or clamors.” And in the General Council of Blase, 1432, the pope’s legate exhorted the Bohemian
Christians: “In the time of Noah’s flood,
as many as were without the ark per-ished.” All of this evil in that
church and of that church was so chronic, and so well known that time and
again when a pope died, all Europe was searched as with candles to find “a
good man” to be pope. And when one was at last found who was well known and
universally accepted as of model character, when he had been installed and
was actually pope he was indeed the pope: and all were caused to lament that
“he always would have been universally considered to be the best man for
pope, if he had never become pope.” Thus the plea utterly falls in
every way that would hold that the badness of the church of Rome is because
of the men and not because of the principle. It is essentially in the
principle: and the principle only manifests itself in and through the men who
become identified with it. And what of the Scriptures?
What say they of it? This: “the man of sin,” “the mystery of iniquity,” “the
synagogue of Satan,” “the son of perdition,” “the great harlot,” “Mystery,
Babylon the Great,” “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth,”
“the mistress of witchcrafts and mother of abominations,” “the abomination of
desolation.” Does God say all of that of a
thing in which there is any possible trace of good, of purity, or of truth?
Do the Scriptures deal with men, or with principles? With principles only.
The whole Bible is a Book of principles only. And as certainly as the
Scriptures deal with principles and not with men, so certainly the Scriptures
deal with and define and denounce the church of 16 Rome in its principle, and not
merely in its men. The sin, the perdition, the
mystery of the iniquity, the harlotry, the witch-craft, the sorcery, the
abomination, of the church of Rome is in the principle of the thing: is in
the essence of the thing, and not in the management of the thing: is in the
essence of that thing as the church, and not in the management of it as the
church. And what is the principle of the church of Rome as the “church?”
According to that principle and idea, what is the “church?” It is this: “The society of the validly
baptized faithful united together in one body by the profession of the same
faith, by the participation of the same sacraments, and by obedience to the
same authority, Christ, its invisible head in Heaven, and the Roman Pontiff,
the successor of St. Peter, Christ’s visible representative and vicegerent on
earth.” — Christian Apologetics, Sec. 200. Take out of that definition
the words “Roman Pontiff, the successor of St. Peter,” and “vicegerent,” and
in their place insert the name of the man, or of the Board, or of the
Committee, or of the Conference or Diocese, in the case, and in principle and
largely in expression, it equally defines “the church” as held and manifested
in every other “church organization” in the world. And what is the principle in
it and of it? It is the visible crowded into the place of the invisible: the
human into the place of the divine: the spiritual attention and obedience of
souls centered in, and held under, the dominion of men instead of that of God
Himself in Christ under the Holy Spirit. The Reformers cut to the root
of that whole thing at the one stroke of de-claring
that in truth it is not in any sense The Church. That is what made them
“heretics.” They said that it is “the abomination of self-deification in the
holy place:” “the Pope is Anti-Christ and his See is that of Satan him-self:”
“the papacy is a general chase, by command of the Roman Pontiff, for the
purpose of running down and destroying souls.” Were they wrong? Was The
Reformation a mistake in its fundamental principle and contention? Rome
claims that it was: and that as she now has eliminated the bad elements from
the church, there is no longer any grounds for Protestant contention: but
that all should and can now work in harmony as one. And the professed
Protestant churches, holding as tenaciously as does Rome herself the Romish
principle of “the church,” and refusing the 17 Christian principle of The
Church, are ready for co-operation with Rome. And every “church” that holds
that principle of “the church” is cooperating with Rome. Now what is the principle of
The Church of the Living God? According to this principle and idea, What is
The Church? It is this: “The Church is His body, the fulness
of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:
22-23. It is “the House of God” “built upon . . . Jesus Christ Himself . . .
in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth
unto an holy temple in the Lord . . . for an habitation of God
through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2: 19-22. And what is the principle in this
and of this? It is more than a principle, it is a Person — the Personal God,
all in all, in Christ, building His own House, for His own habitation through
His own Spirit. And the difference between
these two ideas and these two realms as to The Church, is as wide as is the
difference between man and God. It is just the difference that there is between
man and God: between sly and designing and ambitious and deceitful men, and
the open and frank and honest and meek and lowly Jesus in Whom dwelleth all
the fulness of the Godhead bodily. It is the truth that the long
experience of that first one of these “churches,” and the ingenuity and
patient care of the more than “forty generations of statesmen” have made it
“the very masterpiece of human wisdom:” and have so made it that, that “among
the contrivances that have been devised for deceiving and oppressing mankind
it occupies the highest place.” It was devised for the sole
purpose of deceiving and oppressing mankind; for it was devised by the
arch-deceiver of mankind. The men had little to do with it beyond being the
instruments of the arch-deceiver to extend his purpose and to fulfill his
will. His has been always the purpose, and his the moving will, to put his
church — “the synagogue of Satan” — in the place of The Church of God. That is why the Wisdom of God
in the Scriptures sets it forth as He does in the terms “the mystery of
iniquity,” “the son of perdition,” etc., with never a single intimation of
anything respectable or even decent: much less any-thing good. That Wisdom
penetrates to the seat of the life of the thing, and reveals the inherent
principle of it. And what that Wisdom says that it is, that is what it is.
And no ingenuity of argument, no trick to remove from the thing to the men of
the thing, from the principle to the application of it, can 18 escape or elude the inherent
and essential deviltry of the thing. The thing is simply and only Satanic. It
is Satanic in its principle, it was Satanic in the beginning of its working —
“the mystery of iniquity doth already work;” it has always been Satanic in
its working; and it cannot be anything else, whatever may be said or done to
have it be something else. The principle, being Satanic,
makes more corrupt the men who espouse it and identify themselves with it. It
makes the best men bad and makes bad men worse. That is the secret of the
papacy. Error —
error in the
inward parts —
corrupts the passions. Truth —
truth in the
inward parts —
sanctifies the soul. THE CHURCH What is The Church? What does
the Word of God say that The Church is.’ It is by the Word of God only, and
by the study of the Word of God only, that anybody can ever know what The
Church is. It is The Church of God, not the church of men. And it being The
Church of God, only He can possibly know or tell what it is. And the church,
being only of the thought and conception of God, when He expresses that
thought in telling what The Church is, then that thought in telling what The
Church is, then that thought as expressed in His Word, will be as far above
any conception or thought of man’s, as God is above man, and as the mind of
God is greater than any mind of man. Therefore, in the study of
this subject, as well as any other subject of the thought and Word of God,
the first thing for every person to do is to accept and follow implicitly the
following instruction: “Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts; . . . for My thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and
My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55: 7-9. This being so, and “the things
of God no man knowing but the Spirit of God,” plainly it is only by the
revelation of the Spirit of God that these things can be known by any man: by
the Spirit of God taking these high and deep things of God and making them plain
to us and putting them upon our minds and thus giving them to us as really
our own. John 14: 26; 16: 19 13-15; 1 Corinthians 2: 9-12.
In this way, then, let us study the word and thought of God on what is The
Church. What, then, does He say that The Church is? “The Church is His body, the fulness of Him Who filleth all
in all.” Ephesians 1: 22-23. The Church is the fulness of Him. Who is He, the fulness
of Whom The Church is? Plainly only God, for it is “The Church of the Living
God.” What is the fulness of Him, whose fulness The Church is? What is the fulness
of God, for The Church is the fulness of Him? I might with profit to every one, stop right here in this study, and let each
reader spend a whole month in thinking and meditating and studying on this
one question only, What is the fulness of the
Living God? For whoever gets the fullest and best view of what is the fulness of the Living God, will have the fullest and best
view of what is The Church of the Living God: for The Church is the fulness of Him. What then is fulness of Him? First of all, it is the fulness “of all in all;” for The Church is “the fulness of Him who filleth all
in all.” The fulness of all in all is simply the fulness of infinity. And the fulness
of Him Who filleth all in all, is only the fulness of the Infinite One — “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And again: “Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance . . . All
nations before Him are as nothing: and are counted to Him as less than
nothing and vanity.” Isaiah 40: 15-17. How near to the fulness of all the oceans and seas is “a drop of a
bucket?” And yet that is the measure of “all the nations” to the fulness of God — to the fulness
of Him who filleth the all in all, whose fulness is The Church. Please read Genesis 13:16 and
get the suggestion there of what is the fulness
that is the Church. Now please think on that “fulness of God” which The Church is, and then ask
yourself When The Church is all the fulness of God,
then what kind of an idea of either God or The Church can any men have who
think that they can “organize The Church” or “organize a church?” or who
think that a structure of the pinhead conception of finite-minded,
blunder-thinking, man can be The Church of the Living God, “the fulness of Him Who filleth all 20 in all!!” Is it not perfectly
evident that any man who ever proposed, or thought of, “organizing a church”
or of “organizing The Church,” by that very thing shows absolutely that he
has no possible correct or true thought of what The Church is or What God is? The Church is the fulness of God: and the fulness
of God manifest is The Church: so that the idea of The Church is the idea of
God. A person’s comprehension of The Church is his comprehension of God. In
the nature of the case, whoever thinks that he can “organize The Church,” in
that implies that he thinks that he can organize the fulness
of God: and so that he is above God. And that is exactly where the word of
God places the one who first attempted it — “the man of sin, who opposeth and exalteth him-self above all that is called
God.” Such ones as that can organize
the fulness of their god: and this very easily, for
it so small. And thus every man-organized church in the world, is the
manifestation of the god of that man, just like any other heathen idol. But when The Church is the fulness of The Living God, it is perfectly plain and
conclusive that nobody but God Himself can possibly organize it. And when He
organizes and builds His own Church in and unto the fulness
of Himself — “the fulness of Him Who filleth all in all” — then it is equally plain and
conclusive that the Church will be truly The Church that is the manifestation
only of the true and Living God. The question of The Church and
of the organization of The Church is just the same old world-old question of
whether God shall be Himself in His own way and in His own place, or whether
man-made idols shall be the respective gods of little cliques and coteries in
men’s ways and in the place of God. Before you start the next
chapter please think and mediate and pray on the question, What is the fulness of God — “the fulness
of Him who filleth all in all?” For thus you will
be studying what The Church is. WHAT IS
THE CHURCH? What is
the Church? “The House
of God, is
the Church of
the Living God.”
1 Timothy 21 3:15. The Apostle and High Priest of
our profession was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was
faithful in all His House. “And Moses verily was faithful
in all His House as a servant, for a testimony of those things that were to
be spoken after. But Christ was faithful over His own House: whose House are
we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the
end. Hebrews 3: 1-6. “Ye, as
lively stones are
built up a
spiritual House.” 1
Peter 2:5. “Ye are no more strangers and
foreigners but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God:
and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief cornerstone. “In whom, all the Building,
fitly framed together, groweth unto an Holy Temple
in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together
for an Habitation of God through the Spirit.” Ephesians 2: 19-22. “Ye are
God’s Building.” 1
Corinthians 3:9. “I will
build My Church.”
Matthew 16:18. The Church of God, then, is
the House of God, of His own building, through Christ His own named Builder.
It is built “an holy Temple, in the Lord,” “for an
Habitation of God,
through the Spirit.” Now what are the dimensions of
this House of God? How extensive must be its capacity, to be such a Temple
and such a Habitation of God that it shall reflect and express “all the fulness of God?” And who could be the Builder? What man
or men could possibly build “The House of God which is The Church of the
Living God,” that shall contain so as to express “all the fulness
of God?” Were not men long ago challenged up on this very point? Please read: “Who is able to build Him an
house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him?” 2
Chronicles 2:6. “Behold, heaven and the heaven
of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house that I have builded?” 2 Chronicles 6:18. “The Heaven is My Throne and
the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that ye will build unto Me?
Isaiah 66:1. 22 And this challenge is carried
over into the field of Christian thought and things; and is repeated to hold
up all who would be “builders” of The Church or in The Church which is “The
House of God” — “You builders:” “The Most High dwelleth not in
temples made with hands, as saith the prophet: Heaven is My Throne, and earth
My footstool, what house will ye build Me? saith the Lord?” Acts 7: 48-49;
4:11. Accordingly men, who undertake
to build or to “organize” The Church or a church, in that very thing show
their own utter ignorance of all that is The Church in truth. And they never
do build Him an house. Always they build to themselves an house where in the
place of God, themselves shall sit and reign and rule utterly unlike God. No.
The Church is the House of God, It is built only for the habitation of God,
the place which He has made for Him who is equal with God, and therefore able
and capable to compass and understand and truly express the thought of God in
His “Eternal Purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When this Eternal Purpose was
purposed only in Christ Jesus, then it is utterly impossible for any other
than Christ in person to be The Builder or the Organizer of The Church. And
so only it is: “He shall build The Temple of
the Lord; even He shall build The Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the
glory,” Zechariah 6: 12-13. And “He” came and earned the
position, and, by divine merit as well as by divine right, took the position
of that Builder: “I will build My Church.” But “the man of sin,” “the son
of perdition,” “the mystery of iniquity,” soon came in, and with its working
supplanted Him as the builder, and became himself the builder of what is
proposed as “the church,” but which these builders built only for themselves
and for their own glory, in which always there has sat this “man of sin”
above God, and “showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4. And the wicked course of that
mystery of iniquity has been followed in the building of more others than
there are days in the year: each one of them presented as the true Temple and
the true House of God, but which in truth is only the habitation of men, who
sit and rule there in place of God. But the time has come, and now
is, when the Mystery of God is once more to have its place above the mystery
of iniquity: and this unto its glorious 23 finishing. And this mystery is
God manifest, “God manifest in the flesh,” “Christ in men the hop[e of
glory.” And in this, again it will be, as at the first, that God only, in
Christ only, by the Holy Spirit only, will be the Builder of His own House
unto its finishing in its own native glory and beauty. Revelation 10:7;
Ephesians 5:27. And so it is written: “Speaking the truth in love
may grow up into Him in all things who is the Head even Christ, from whom”
and “in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth
unto an holy Temple in the Lord . . . for an habitation of God through the
Spirit.” Ephesians 4: 15-6; 2: 21-22. There is the Builder of The
Church, the Organizer of The Church, and He is only Christ the Head. There is the Building of The
Church, the organizing of The Church, and it is all only from Him who is the
Head, by the Holy Spirit. And that is the House of God:
a fit and becoming “House of habitation” for Him Who first “built all
things,” and “Whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain.” Where is the house that ye
will build unto Me — “you builders” — saith the Lord? The Word of
God Abideth Forever 24 |