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THE CHURCH, THE FALLING AWAY, AND THE RESTORATION
THE CHURCH, THE FALLING AWAY, AND THE RESTORATION
BY J. W. SHEPHERD Editor of “ Handbook on Baptism ,” “ Queries and Answers ,” “ Salvation of Sin ,” “ What is the New Testament Church? ” GOSPEL ADVOCATE COMPANY Nashville, Tenn. 1961 GOSPEL ADVOCATE COMPANY Nashville, Tenn. 1961 Copyright 1929 By F. L. Rowe Gospel Advocate Co., Owner Nashville, Tenn....
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PREFACE
PREFACE
An effort is made in the following pages to set forth what the New Testament church was when it came into the world through the preaching of inspired men; how it was led into apostasy; and an account of some of the many attempts to restore it to its original purity and simplicity. In proportion as any religious work becomes a potent force in affecting the welfare of mankind, its early history becomes interesting and important. This is especially true of the very beginning of its history where th
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CHAPTER I. WHAT SHOULD THE CHURCH OF THE PRESENT BE?
CHAPTER I. WHAT SHOULD THE CHURCH OF THE PRESENT BE?
That the church is the bride of Christ is clearly expressed in the following: “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom. 7:4). “For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (II Cor. 11:2). In these passages the bride evidently means the
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CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH AND THE TEMPLE
CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH AND THE TEMPLE
Under the Patriarchal and Jewish dispensation there were numerous animal sacrifices by divine appointment. Not only so, but the people generally, who knew not the true God, have, all down the ages, poured sacrificial blood upon altars innumerable. This must have come about by the perversion of divinely-appointed sacrificial institutions, or from the felt need of fallen man for some way of mediation and of approach to God. That the need was felt by true worshipers is not open to doubt, for if sac
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CHAPTER III. INFANT BAPTISM
CHAPTER III. INFANT BAPTISM
Another point in which the Church of Christ and the Jewish Covenant are at exact opposites is that of infant membership. In the Apostolic Church baptism preceded membership, and faith was prerequisite to baptism, consequently there was not, neither could be any place for infant membership. On this account we have in the New Testament neither precept for, nor example of, infant baptism, but on the contrary, much that renders it totally incompatible with apostolic teaching. But we are reminded by
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CHAPTER IV. CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP
CHAPTER IV. CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP
As we have already learned that infant baptism was not an apostolic practice, we will give it no further attention at present. The conditions of membership in the apostolic Church naturally divide themselves into two classes—those of admission into the Church and those of continued membership. Concerning admission into the Church it is said in connection with its establishment that “the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved” (Acts 2:47). This implies that the Lord saved the people
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CHAPTER V. THE WORSHIP
CHAPTER V. THE WORSHIP
Of the people under the new covenant the Holy Spirit, through Peter, said: “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9). They constitute a nation—not a republic, but a kingdom—so we read: “Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be
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CHAPTER VI. POLITY
CHAPTER VI. POLITY
By the term polity I mean the organic structure and government of the Church. Nothing is more obvious from the New Testament record than the simplicity which characterized its primitive organization. In this particular Christianity was in marked contrast with Judaism. With temple, tabernacle or altars; without priests or Levites, and almost without ceremonies, it made known at once its character and purpose as spiritual and not carnal, as, in fact, a kingdom of God “not of this world.” Its only
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CHAPTER I. THE FALLING AWAY PREDICTED
CHAPTER I. THE FALLING AWAY PREDICTED
The Saviour, when about to leave his apostles, prayed the Father, that as he till then had kept them, so they might be kept when he was no longer personally with them, adding: “I pray not that thou shouldst take them from the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). And his prayer was answered, for though Jew and Gentile sought their death, yet they were preserved until the church stood forth in the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ—till the perfect
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CHAPTER II. THE FALLING AWAY
CHAPTER II. THE FALLING AWAY
The origin of the Roman hierarchial system is obscured in pious frauds; but it is certain that it arose gradually. As we have already learned, the apostolic churches had a plurality of elders or bishops. At the first the elders of any particular congregation would select one of their number to preside at their meetings for the transaction of business, and in the course of time he came to be known as “The Bishop.” Little by little he came to feel his importance till he was exalted above his fello
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CHAPTER III. THE CONFESSIONAL
CHAPTER III. THE CONFESSIONAL
As the mass is the aggregate of the Romish doctrine, the confessional is the chief of the papal system. By it the decrees of the “infallible Church” are applied and carried out with unequaled measure of minuteness and rigor. That the New Testament requires the confession of sin is not denied; but such a thing as secret confession in the ear of a priest, to secure his absolution, was entirely unknown in the early churches. Even in Rome it was not till about the year 390 that there was a place app
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CHAPTER IV. INDULGENCES
CHAPTER IV. INDULGENCES
In order to make the absolution effective, the sacrament of confession comprises penances by which the wrongs done are paid. Originally the amount of satisfaction was measured by the time alone during which the state of penance should last. As we have already seen, this situation inflicted the greatest disgrace, and caused the greatest distress of mind. But gradually a change was wrought, and penitents who showed undoubted sorrow were relieved of their penance earlier than the old usage demanded
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CHAPTER I. JOHN WYCKLIFFE
CHAPTER I. JOHN WYCKLIFFE
The Roman Catholic Church, as we have already seen, had reached such a degree of corruption in doctrine and practice, so deep and widespread, that it would seem quite impossible for it to reach further degradation. The name of Christ was everywhere professed, but a devout believer was seldom found. The Christ was hidden that his pretended representatives might be all in all. Justification by faith was denounced in order to open up a trade in indulgences to enrich the papacy by the sale of salvat
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CHAPTER II.William Tyndale
CHAPTER II.William Tyndale
If I were to follow the strictly chronological order, I would here give a sketch of Luther and his work, but as I have given an account of the work of Wyckliffe, it is proper to give attention to the work of William Tyndale, because I am now seeking the basic principle of the return to apostolic purity and simplicity. At the opening of the sixteenth century, a period of great interest to all the world, were four men—Le Fevre, in France; Zwingli, in Switzerland; Luther, in Germany, and Tyndale, i
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CHAPTER III. MARTIN LUTHER
CHAPTER III. MARTIN LUTHER
Notwithstanding the fact that the papacy had universal sway over Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, it must be noted that, from the beginning of the fourteenth century on, there were insurgents, however varied their cries and watchwords, who were persistent in their denunciation of the priesthood. The hatred arose from their intolerable extortions, which were a galling burden. While the tithing system was an intolerable yoke, the rapacity of the priests went far beyond tithes in t
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CHAPTER IV. THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND
CHAPTER IV. THE REFORMATION IN SWITZERLAND
Hulerreich Zwingli, the Reformer of German Switzerland, was born at Wildenhaus, January 1, 1484. In school he made rapid progress and was soon recognized as a youth of much promise. His bright mind, love of truth, and devotion to the Scriptures soon brought him prominently before the public. On discovering the corruptions of the clergy, and learning of the dogmas and traditions, not found in the Bible, such as indulgences, the worship of the “Virgin” Mary and of images, he attempted to reform th
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CHAPTER V. THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND
CHAPTER V. THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND
To say that the Reformation in England was brought about by the desire of Henry VIII to be divorced from Catharine of Aragon is to ignore the well-established facts of history. No king, however despotic, could have forced on such a revolution unless there was much in the life of the people that reconciled them to the change, and evidence of this is abundant. There was much that was called “heresy” in England long before Luther raised his voice against Catholicism in Germany. Wycliffe’s writings
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CHAPTER VI. THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND
CHAPTER VI. THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND
Had I the time and space I would be glad to give a history of the Reformation in Scotland under John Knox and others. After all the prolonged suffering and conflict, it has precious little more of Protestantism than is common in the English State Church. There we also find the reigning monarch represented in the General Assembly by a nobleman, as Lord High Commissioner, who, on some occasions, has taken upon himself to dissolve the Assembly without the consent of its members. In 1843 a conflict
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CHAPTER I. SPIRITUAL UNREST IN MANY PLACES
CHAPTER I. SPIRITUAL UNREST IN MANY PLACES
The close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century were characterized by efforts to get entirely on apostolic ground, originating almost simultaneously in widely-separated localities and amidst different and antagonistic sects. But, as the greatest of these efforts developed in our own country, we now turn our attention to them. One of these originated among the Methodists at the time of the establishment of the American colonies, and the subject of church government became
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CHAPTER II. BARTON W. STONE
CHAPTER II. BARTON W. STONE
We have already learned that efforts were being made to return to apostolic Christianity in different places in the East, and I mentioned these efforts first because as emigration is most usually westward, the influences thus exerted spread far and wide. This is one of the reasons why the plea to return to the original practice of the apostolic churches has been more effective in the West than in the East. I now give attention to a great movement that was inaugurated in what was then called the
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CHAPTER III.Thomas Campbell
CHAPTER III.Thomas Campbell
For the present I turn from the work of Stone to that of the Campbells. Chiefly because of failing health, Thomas Campbell, an humble, but intellectually and spiritually-gifted minister of the Seceder Presbyterian Church in the parish of Ahory, Armaugh County, Ireland, determined to seek for himself and for his family a home in this country. He came alone, intending to send for his family as soon as he had established himself. He arrived in Philadelphia May 27, 1807. The Seceder Synod of North A
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CHAPTER IV. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
CHAPTER IV. ALEXANDER CAMPBELL
Alexander Campbell, the son, arrived in this country September 29, 1809, just as the proof sheets of the Declaration and Address were coming from the press, and as a matter of the first concern with him, Thomas Campbell gave a full detail of the events already related to his son, and desired especially that he should read and consider the Declaration and Address. This Alexander did, and fell in heartily with the action of his father and the principles set forth therein. A new world of thought an
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CHAPTER VII. JOHN SMITH
CHAPTER VII. JOHN SMITH
Among the Baptist preachers whom Mr. Campbell met on this visit was John Smith, who, on account of the prominent part he afterwards had in presenting apostolic Christianity to the people, deserves more than a passing notice. He was born October 15, 1784, in a log cabin in East Tennessee, whither his parents had moved a short time before his birth on account of religious persecution. His father and mother had espoused the Baptist faith. But as Virginia, at that time, had an established form of re
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CHAPTER VIII. WALTER SCOTT
CHAPTER VIII. WALTER SCOTT
Inasmuch as the name of Walter Scott is inseparably linked with the movement to restore apostolic Christianity, I now give a sketch of his life and work. He was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, October 31, 1796. He was carefully trained in the Scotch Presbyterian Church by his mother. At the very early period in his life he gave evidence of a decided talent. Though the resources of the family were only moderate, his watchful parents gave him every educational advantage, the mother praying that t
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CHAPTER IX. THE CHRISTIANS AND REFORMERS UNITE
CHAPTER IX. THE CHRISTIANS AND REFORMERS UNITE
A new period has now dawned in the movement for the union of all Christians by the restoration of primitive Christianity. The Baptists had thrust from their fellowship those who had embraced it and they were forced into a separate existence. Every preacher among them was filled with a zeal to plant churches after the primitive order wherever they could get a large enough company together. The work spread principally from two centers, Ohio and Kentucky. From Ohio it was carried into New York and
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