Newspapers / The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, … / July 22, 1903, edition 1 / Page 1
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DANGERS OF THE DENOMINATIONAL IDEA--J. B. GAMBRELL. MBLICAL IlECORDEE 1 ( . ' .4'. 1 , ,.. ! . ' 1 , - '- K f ' . i ' ' -i r JOSIAH WILLIAM BAILEY, Bditob. CUT THEfl OFP j THEY ARB KILLINd THE CHURCH. , r Why docs the revival not "come f .Why do not the thousands , of churches take the world for ' Christ! What is the matter with the Power of God! .: ; 1 :;; , There is no mark of modern Christianity moro significant, moro indicative of the unhealthy state of the churches, more worthy of the grave con cern of those who long for the manifestation of the ancient power of the Risen Lord dwelling in His chosen and working in His church, no mark so striking as this, that the churches of the Living God are no longer alert and straight to discipline. They have lost their power to purge themselves ! : The live body throws off dead matter daily. Life is a process of taking in living matter and putting out tho dead. But by this sign the churches of to day are dead. They do take in living members comparatively few, however; but they do not throw off the dead. And the living ones all but perish within them. The branches do not purge themselves. The Vine is pure; and He will purge" nimself of such branches. Very likely this ex plains the absence of that power of the Risen and Indwelling Christ. lie is Risen indeed ; but He has eased to dwell in bodies that would not purge themselves. Unregenerate or unworthy church members are not merely a hindrance and re proach; they are poison in the body of Christ. It way said in the beginning that Christianity should be known by its fruits. The Master Him self gave and approved this test. The power of RALEIGH N. C., WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1903. VOLUME 69, NUMBER 4. FROM THE RAM'S BORN, CMlCMOt THIS SHALL BE NO LONGER TRUE IN NORTH CAROLINA. is a puny a powerless church; that Christ Him self is handicapped by a church that is full of dead branches; that by His own test the test of fruits, that is, of capacity to bring forth right eousness and faith and nobler living, He is proven inefficient. He stands defeated and be trayed by His own disciple once again. We are doing considerable money-raising; we are building schools and sending out missiona ries. These are good. But they do not make the Christianity, or of its vessels, the individual and whole of Christianity. Nor do,4 .all fhe . well tVl pillion IO ifQA3 10 TnaaaiiTnrl kv ira wiUfl" A ' i tvSrtwrtiWirtlrri'QiAol AkiAnf a ' AAmKmal wtaXrt church, therefore, half full of rotten members is a reproach, yea a condemnation of Christianity and poison destroying the body of Christ Him self. Men who are believers but who are not church-members stand boldly among us and say that the church is not worth joining ; that the per centage of bad men in the church is about as large as the percentage outside; and that they cannot, therefore, see what there i3 in joining the church. It is not separate from the world. The world is in the church and the church . is in the world. ; They say these things, and church mem bers and ministers cannot deny them; and the effort to explain them away but makes the mat ter worse. ' There is, of course, somewhat to be said. The churches are doing some work. There are' some good people, worthy Christians, in the churches. Church-membership is worth while. We may1 even go so far as to say that the non church members have absolutely no excuse in the condition of the churches for remaining- outside. Their duty is to do their duty, no matter who else failg. It will avail them nothing in the day of Judgment to allege that So and So, church- mem ber, was a worlding or a hypocrite. Nevertheless it must be conceded that the state of the churches is bad; that their salt has largely lost its savor and that their light is dim; that church-membership is no longer a mark of holiness, no longer a mark of separation, no longer a badge of distinc tion; and that, no matter whether these things are a legitimate excuse for men to remain outside or not, they are a reproach to the Holy Christ and a niockery of ! the Living God; that they have made of no account the power of the Gospel; crip pled the preachers, and brought religion into con tempt. They explain the ''present failure of the church to be all-powerful. These he plain words' but we call the reader for witness to their truths r . We say that the churches have lost their power to purge themselves; and that an unclean church known "denominational objects' combined make Christianity. Pure religion is personal. It is in the heart, in the mind, in the self. It is what you are, not what you do. We should do these things ; but we should put the emphasis upon per sonal religion, personal holiness, personal soul winning. Only so shall the churches return to their power and the great revival come. The churches must be aroused. They must acquire new courage. They must return to the old standards of high. The liar, the drunkard, the usurer, the worlding, the indifferent, the sloth ful, must be turned out. These dead branches must be cut off. Else the churches will remain dead and dying. The poison will kill them. A gentlemen picked up a church directory re cently. He studied it closely. Then he laughed. Then he scoffed. "What's the matter?" we in quired. "Why, man," he said, "it looks like all the bad men I know have joined the church !" Then he named them man after man whose standing was certainly not such as church-membership should guarantee; men who are immersed in money-making, as utterly of this world as men can be; men who lie in the listing of their taxes; men who are talked about for their sharp prac tice; men who are known to drink whiskey; men who will not pay their debts; men who do not attend church. Who wonders that a church like that defeats the power of God and the angels? Such a church only can do this. Nothing else is in just the strategic position to thwart God. The devil so strong nowhere else as he is when in the church. At this point he paralyses the nerve-centre of Christianity. This is not pleasant writing. The reader will ask, what is the matter! Some one will say that the writer is in a bad mood. Very well; jf you can dismiss this matter so easily something is wrong with you. Men have become so accustomed to corruption-that they cannot smell it.' Look about you. How is it with your church ? Is she a , ( coward? Is she clean? Can she purge herself ?" Is she ; saving her world ? , Is she a light to all around ? Is God's power in her ? ' .We believe profoundly that the churches of today so much need nothing as a general judg ment; a general purging; a strong and severe course of discipline. And we hope and pray that the Baptist churches of North Carolina will set about this business with no delay. - Let them not fear rich or poor, great or small; let them not consult fleshnd blood; let them not halt before somebody's feelings or influence or, contributions. Let1 them purge 1 themselves if itf reduces their strength to the vanishing point. - A pure church of three members has more power than an un clean church of a thousand or a million.' A pure church ridden with poverty and ready for tho poor-house has more power than an impure church with, a million or a billion dollars running after the world. '' V ' : V;'; -y535 We hope that this year will be a year memora ble for the cutting out of dead branches.' If our hope shall come true, we promise that next shall be memorable for the visitations of the Spirit of God. Going" into battle armies, since the day of Gideon, have rid themselves of the unfit. The armies of God will win no great battle until they shall have done likewise.' THE CHILD. When Mary sang to him, I wonder if His baby hand stole softly to her lips, And, smiling down, she needs must stop her song To kiss and kiss again his finger-tips. I wonder if," his eyelids being shut, And Mary bending mutely over him, She felt her eyes, as mothers do today, For lfcry depth of love grow wet and dim. Then did a sudden presage come to her Of bitter looks and words and thorn-strewn '. street? 1 , , 1 - , ' And did she catch her breath and hide her face, And shower smothered kisses on his feet? ' Bertha Gerneaux Woods, in Verses (Neale Pub. Company.) ' ! AN EXPLANATION. People hear patiently what it is understood they will not practice. But if the preacher "come : down," as it is called from these heights, and as sail in sober earnest, deep-rooted abuses, respecta ble vices,' inhuman institutions or arrangements, and unjust means of gain, which interest, pride , and habit make dear and next to universal, the people who exact from him onaciaTTioliness are shocked, offended. "He forgets his sphere."- Wilham iiJIery Channing. f
The Biblical Recorder (Raleigh, N.C.)
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July 22, 1903, edition 1
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