This ably written pamphlet is one of quite a crop of papers and books along similar lines that have appeared of late. The “ecclesiasticism” complained of had been condemned by not a few for many a long year.
Strangely enough some of those now writing against it did more than any others to build up the very system of which they have now grown weary. A reaction was bound to come, and the danger lies in the swing of the pendulum to the opposite extreme.
We cannot find fault with the spirit in which this pamphlet is written, and a great deal of it is unquestionably true. The forcing of unscriptural discipline and its dissemination to the ends of the earth has done much of the mischief. At the same time there is such a thing as the assembly’s responsibility to exercise scriptural discipline, and this locally done should be universally recognized. This we believe to be clearly taught in Matthew 18:18.
In matters of doctrine each Christian is himself responsible to judge what is the truth in the light of an open Bible, “Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). Our author admits the gravity of attacks upon the truth in the early centuries of Christianity, and the necessity of standing firm, even to the point of division. There are very many who see in a more recent attack something far more than a “storm of controversy” on “matters of no concern to ordinary Christians” (page 27). While on the one hand avoiding sectarianism, it surely is the bounden duty on the other to contend earnestly for the faith, and as evidence that both these sides were recognized in the movement of the early part of last century, we append extracts from two important letters relating to those deeply interesting times:
“I feel daily more the importance of the Christians at P —, and I do trust that you will keep infinitely far from sectarianism. The great body of the Christians who are accustomed to religion are scarce capable of understanding anything else, as the mind ever tends there. If they become so in their position before God, they would be utterly useless, and, I am persuaded, immediately broken to pieces. You are nothing, nobody, but Christians, and the moment you cease to be an available mount for communion for any consistent Christian you will go to pieces or help the evil. Pray much to God that you may be kept from concessions, acts, in which Satan may get an advantage over you in it. The church at L―have so multiplied that they must seek some place of meeting, and one has offered, and the hour they talk of changing to twelve, the hour for other places―previously it has been eight. This is a cause of anxiety to me whilst I wait on the Lord’s will, for I feel the importance of the moral character of the step, for, unless called for, it would have the same tendency” (J. N. D., 30th April 1833).
“Nevertheless I am convinced that even at that time (1829) we should no more have tolerated false doctrine, through God’s grace, than now. The comfort of many who loved us, but were not with us, was our staunch orthodoxy, as regards the., mystery of the Godhead, and the doctrine of grace and godliness” (E. C., July 1871).
If there was a needs be for care in the matter of false doctrine in those early days, who with an open Bible before him, and with any knowledge of the present state of the professing Church, could minimize its importance in these days? If we are to be known as “those whose one bond is Christ and whose only law is love” (page 66), to be of any avail it must be as abiding “in the doctrine of the Christ,” and exercising “love in the truth” (2 John).
ED.