The Perpetuity of the Church
ARTICLE II I believe I will write a few short articles for The Primitive Baptist, and if the editor thinks they will do a little good and no harm, he can let his subscribers read them. I believe I will select the Church question as my subject, and discuss it from a scriptural and a historical standpoint. It is a well established fact in the minds of all who are acquainted with our people, that they claim to be the Church of Jesus Christ. I will tell in a brief way why we claim to be the Church, and if those who differ with me think it is little and narrow in us, I will just say, that a good woman believes that her husband has just one woman for his wife, and she sincerely believes that she is that woman. I will not be so vain as to think I will do the subject justice, or that I will produce some new argument on the subject. When we say we are the Church, we just mean what we say, and we do not, and we did not, say that those who do not belong to the Primitive Baptists are not children of God. Our position is that you must be a child of God before you are fit to belong to the Church of God. We do not teach that you must be a member of the Church in order to be a child of God. To be a child of God you must be born again--you must be a new creature--then, and not until then, are you eligible for membership in the Church of God. I am sure that the Son of God has one wife only, and I am also sure that His wife knows her Husband; and why should it be thought a thing incredible for her to say, "I am my Beloved's. and my Beloved is mine: He feedeth among the lilies."--Songs vi. 3. A good man that is married has just one wife, and the good woman that is married has just one husband. The good woman will say, "I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me."--Songs vii. 10. The Church has never had but one Husband. and Jesus Christ has never had but one wife; and He speaks of her in a very lovely, and endearing way--"My dove, my undefiled is but one she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea the queens and the concubines, and they praised her."--Songs vi. 9. The Church has just one mother. Everything else claiming to be the Church are the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 2). The Church is the only one of her mother. Being the only one. there is not another. The Church is not lust one member, but it is just one body. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body so also is Christ."—1 Cor. xii. 12. Thee mother of the Church is the covenant of grace. "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of as all."--Gal, ix. 26. Children, according to Arminianism, have two mothers. While they are the children of the bondwoman, they are required to work to be the children of the free woman; and what they do while the children of the bond woman, is the cause of their being born of the free woman. The covenant of grace weans her children, while the covenant of works never weans her children, for her breasts are dry (Hosea ix. 14). Sarah raised Isaac on the breast. This I know to be true, because she weaned him. Hagar raised Ishmael on the bottle, and he cried for water when thirsty. "And she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink."--Gen, xxi. 19. Hagar reared her child on the bottle, for it was water he desired. Sarah reared her child on the breast, for he desired the sincere milk of the word (1 Pet. ii. 2). The Prophet Isaiah called the Church a house. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."--Isa. ii. 2, 3. I hardly think that those who read their Bibles will call in question the statement that the prophet had allusion to the setting up of the Church of God. Mountain in this text could mean empire or some human government, while hills could mean the organizations of men belonging to the governments of this world. It will be remembered that the devil took Jesus up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed them all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and the devil said to Him, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."--Matt, iv. 9. The Church of Jesus Christ was set up above all the kingdoms of this world. "Many of the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 2) have done virtuously, but thou (the Church) excellest them all."--Prov, xxxi. 29. As the Church is above all the governments and empires and organizations of men. secret or otherwise, the children of God who are members of the Church must go down hill to get into them; and as they go down hill, they are going away from the Church, for the reason that the Church is exalted above the hills, or any thing that men or any set of men can possibly set up. The prophet well said. "My people hath been lost sheep-their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains, they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place."--Jer. 1. 6. Do you want to be taught the way of the Lord more perfectly? Come let us go up to the house of the Lord-our heavenly Father lives there, our Eider Brother dwells there and the Holy Spirit abides there. Wonderful teachers are! "He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." David had faith in God as his teacher. "Lead me in thy and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation."--Psa. 5. David also believed that the Lord is good: "Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will He teach sinners in the way. The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies."--Psa, xxv. 8-10. If you love and want to find the place where the honor of the Lord dwelleth, just find the Church of God. "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth."--Psa, xxvi. 8. The house or Church of God is unlike all other houses or churches; it cannot be moved, for it is firmly fixed and built upon the tried and sure foundation. God is her refuge, His Son is her strength, while the Holy Spirit is her comforter--a very present help in trouble. She has no reason to fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains and governments of earth assail her, yet "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early."--Psa, xlvi. 4, 5.
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