THE Ecclesiastical Observer (Formerly the British Harbinger), A FORTNIGHTLY JOURNAL AND REVIEW; Devoted to Primitive Ghristianity and Biblical Cruth. PUBLISHED ON THE FIRST & FIFTEENTH OF EVERY MONTH NOVEMBER 15th, 1877. No. 22.-VOL. XXX. C. on "Compromise and Free Communion " and R. D. on "Church Congress," stand over for our next. PAYMENTS RECEIVED to November 8.-W. JamesR. Mear-R. Taylor (Sydney)-Dunn and Collin (Melbourne)-A. Young-Thos. Young-G. Dean (Ohio)– P. Stephen J. Hope-J. Casson-J. WoodhouseH. Hamilton-S. Stutterd-J. Barton (Nelson)--J. Grinstead J. Ash (Ontario). Free Distribution Fund.-W. J. H. THE SUNBEAM. THIS little serial will henceforth appear with larger pages. Picture illustrations, of considerable cost, will adorn each number. The price will remain One Halfpenny. TER PRICE 2d. ERMS.-The Ecclesiastical Observer can be ordered from BOOKSELLERS by giving the name of publishers -Hall and Co., 8, Amen Corner, London, E.C.; or, post free from the EDITOR, on payment of 4s. for the year, 2s. for the half-year, or 5s. per annum to America, Australia, or Canada. Postal copies to be prepaid. Postage stamps received for sums not exceeding 5s. ADVERTISEMENTS.-Under Six lines, 2s. 6d. ; One inch, 3s. 6d.; Two inches, 6s.; Quarter page, 11s.; Three or more insertions, one-fourth less. DUNN, CARTER, AND Co., Booksellers, opposite Post Office, Melbourne, Australia, remit orders, or supply monthly. The several friends who have hitherto received orders and payments on our behalf will, no doubt, continue to do so; or subscribers can send P.0.0. direct. expensive, costing, perhaps, more than the rest of the printing; and as already the cost was not fully covered, that increase of outlay could not be incurred. The difficulty is, however, now got over, by a number of kind friends undertaking to share the loss consequent upon the introduction of pictorial illustrations, for some time to come; so that parents and teachers, and children, may have an opportunity to make persevering effort to increase its circulation, and, so soon as possible, to cover the outlay. Will our friends, then, in the churches and in the schools, at once put forth efforts to enlarge the number required, and let us know the result early in December; remembering that under present circumstances, each purchaser will receive, in regard to cost, much more than the value of the price at which it is sold. All communications to be addressed to the Editor of E. O. During the past twelve years, the Sunbeam, taking CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR GIFTS. into view the varied outlay connected with its production and circulation, has been kept up at some amount of loss. It has been continued because wanted to supply what cannot be obtained from the more largely-circulated Sunday School Magazines, and it will be continued with that end in view. But though considered (by so many 1870, Post free, Stitched, 6d. each; or bound in THE SUNBEAM, for 1877, 1876, 1875, 1872, 1871, Cloth, 11d. HE OLD PATHS, an Instructive Present, either of its friends) greatly needed, it has not had that circu- T for Youth or Mature Age. The vol. for 1877 is lation which might have reasonably been expected, considering the number of scholars in the schools to which it regularly goes. Of the reading it contains there has been no complaints; on the contrary, frequent commendation. But a pretty general cry has been the children will have pictures, and will take anything which has them rather than the Sunbeam without them," But pictures, of any real worth, are specially devoted to Leading Elements of the Way of THE BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c., direct from the Editor, by Post or Rail. SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARIES may add interesting books to their catalogues by obtaining the vols. of the Sunbeam, still on sale, of which there are six. For library purposes, taking the set, they will be supplied at Fourpence each, stitched, or Eightpence bound in cloth. The Old Paths, also, would be valuable for elder scholars, in order to instruction in the way of salvation. Of these there are on sale vols. for seven years. For libraries, in sets, they will be forwarded at Fivepence, stitched, and Ninepence in cloth. This offer will remain open only till the end of the year. Commentary on New Tes., Vol I, MATTHEW AND MARK. By J. W. McGarvey. Price 8s. 6d., P. 6d. TO THE HEBREWS. By Pres. Milligan. 88.6d., P. 6d. Reason and Revelation. Milligan, 8s. 6d., P. 8d. BY DAVID KING. EDUCATION AT THE SEA SIDE. Lytham, Lancashire. Errol House School. Principal, Mr. GEORGE HAY, Member of the College of Preceptors, holder of Certificates of Honour from Owen's College, and from the Science and Art Department of the Privy Council on Education. Mr. and Mrs. Hay (assisted by a lady of experience) beg to inform their friends that they will be glad to receive Resident Pupils after the next Christmas vacation. Prospectuses on application will be gladly sent. HYMNS AND BIBLE LESSON SONGS FOR CHILDREN; containing all the hymns of our former book, with a considerable number of new, selected, and adapted hymns, with special reference to popular tunes now used to undesirable words. The price, in Cloth, to schools is 2d.; single copies, 2td.; purchasers pay carriage. Postage on twelve copies, 44d. CHRE NHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE; OR, SIN. HE INTERPRETING CONCORDANCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, showing the Greek Original of every word, with a Glossary, explaining all the Greek words of the New Testament, and giving their varied renderings in the Authorized version. By JAMES GALL. Price, post-free, 68.6d. Psalms and Hymns for Christians; Fourth Immersion v. Sprinkling and Pouring: The Why Baptize the Little Ones ? 4d., P. d. BY ALEX. CAMPBELL. Debate on Romanism with Bishop Purcell. 6s., Debate on Evidences of Christianity, with Christian Baptist. 10s. 6d., P. 10d. BY THOMAS COOPER. The Bridge of History Over the Gulf of The Verity of Christ's Resurrection from The Verity and Value of the Miracles of God, the Soul, and a Future State. DISCUSSION, D. KING and C. BRADLAUGH, on Christianity and Secularism, Six Nights, Post free 1s. 1d; in Cloth, 18. 7d, IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By ALBERT BARNES. Cloth, gilt, price 5s. 6d. ; post free, 68. HE CAUSES, CONSEQUENTS AND PREVEN TTION OF DIVISIONS. A Paper by G. Y, TICKLE, read at the Annual Meeting, and printed by the Author. Price 1d., six copies post-free. THE HE TWELVE TRIBES-Their Relation to Palestine, to the Nations and to Christ, con. taining Historic Proof that Ten Tribes were not lost, but well known throughout the Mosaic Age. By EDWARD EVANS. Post-free, 4}d. HORT ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE MILLEN. NIUM; or Plain Proofs for Plain Christians that the Coming of Christ will not be Pre-millennial; that His reign on earth will not be personal. A book for the times, by B. C. YOUNG. Second thousand, post-free, 28. 6d. Observer, Nov. 15, '77. TANGLED TALK. IN our last a specimen of the "Rev." Hugh Stowell Brown's "Plain Talk" came under notice. We have now, from the same gentleman, a sample of talk as terribly tangled as we remember to have heard from any respectable Nonconformist pulpit. Mr. Brown is VicePresident of the Baptist Union, and at its recent Autumnal Meeting, held in Newport, was the honoured preacher; the Commercial Street Chapel being crowded to excess. The sermon was upon "Denominationalism." The text, of course, said nothing about the subject of the discourse. The nearest word in the New Testament, to "Denomination" is "Sect," and the word used by the inspired writers to express it is classed with works of the flesh, upon which the condemnation of the Lord is proclaimed. Mr. Brown should have taken as his text one of the verses in which alpeσis occurs; say GAL. v. 19: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, laciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, sects (aipeσes), envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like." Now we take it that there is no allusion to so-called "Christian Denominations" in the New Testament, otherwise than as they are covered by aipeores which, in some instances, as it should be in all, is translated sects. But Mr. Brown preferred a text which has no connection with his sermon, for the obvious reason that otherwise the text would have condemned the discourse. He therefore selected "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." (1 Cor. xii.) The handling and tangling of this text, by the Vice-President of the Baptist Union, is certainly a remarkable performance and a miserable perversion of plain Apostolic words. The "diversities of gifts" and "differences of administrations" by the same Spirit and Lord, or as we may read, "distributions of gifts" and "distributions of ministries" refer exclusively to allotments of service and power distributed in the one body, or church, of the Lord, which was completely undenominational, every approach to partyism being condemned as carnal. In the same epistle we read-" For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" The distributions, gifts, or allotments, of the Spirit, referred to in the text, all apply to gracious bestowments of office and power exercised in one and the same congregation. They are specified thus-"For to one is given by the same Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man, severally as he will. 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." In this we have clear and direct testimony to organic oneness; that is in the very chapter which Mr. Brown perverts in support of the opposite condition. After reading his text the preacher put forth denominations (sects), as though they were included in the gifts of the Spirit, saying "It would not be easy to ascertain how many denominations of Christians there are in the world. There have been many that have ceased to exist, for it is a great mistake to suppose that denominationalism is a thing of modern times, a growth of the Protestant Reformation, and that before the days of Luther the church was all one. It was not one even in the time of the Apostles, for Peter's teaching, or what, perhaps, is a little more to the purpose, Peter's practice, so very greatly differed from Paul's that the latter, on one occasion, felt it to be his duty to withstand Peter to his face; and from that time on, along the whole line of Christian history, there has been sect after sect, division after division, denomination after denomination, holding opinions and names that have long since been forgotten." If ever a man deserved to be put into court for libel, and mulct in heavy damages, this preacher, at the suit of Simon Peter and Paul, is thus deserving. Good heavens! These Apostles makers of denominations, consequent upon difference of opinion and personal preference to this or that course of action? "It was not one even in the days of the Apostles," says Mr. Brown. We demand proof. Mr. Brown gives none, and has none to give. He dishonours the Apostles in defence of that which dishonours him and all who support it. beg to affirm, and to defy all contradiction, that "IT" (the body of Christ, the sect or denomination called after His name, was one, organically one, and only one, during the lifetime of the Apostles, and that no two denominations ever had their sanction. We That there were slight differences in opinion between two or more of the Apostles, which led, in an instance or so, to some divergence of action on matters not then fully revealed, or not covered by Divine enactment, is freely admitted, as also that in personal conduct an apostle could fall short, as did Peter, and be subject to blame. But what of that? Did Peter, when withstood by Paul, set up another denomination? Cannot Mr. Brown distinguish between the existence of difference of opinion in one body, church, or society, and the division of that community into two or more distinct societies on account of those differences? The apostolic example and order give diversity of opinion with oneness in faith, IN ONE BODY, and not separation into sects on the ground of divergence of opinion. This matter is of immense importance, and, therefore, we purpose to return to it in our next. There is very much in Mr. Brown's sermon that needs untangling, which obtains importance not so much from himself as from its connection with the Baptist Union. THE PAPER ON EVANGELIZATION.* We finish this week the able paper by David King, of Birmingham, England, on "Evangelization," which has been running through several numbers of The Christian. We would be glad to know that all our readers, but especially our preachers, had given the articles a careful reading. While they might not have agreed with the writer, in every position taken in the essay, they could not have failed to have profited by it. We call attention to a few prominent points in the article, which, in our judgment, merit grave consideration: 1. The writer, though by no means opposed to protracted meetings, is decidedly against the use of all clap-trap and sensationalism as agencies in the conversion of sinners. He would rely on the plain but earnest preaching of the gospel to win men to faith and obedience, Few, if any, would dissent from this general statement, yet it is evident that he would disapprove of some of the practices of many of our American preachers. He would rule out that excitement that accompanies the protracted efforts of * "The Christian (American) having inserted the whole of the Paper on Evangelization, as read to our Annual Meeting, comments thereupon as above. The reason for reproducing the Christian's article is not at all the commendation therein contained, but that our readers may learn that there is considerable need for preachers and churches, on the other side of the Atlantic, to have put before them some of its prominent items. This will be the more apparent upon reading the article following this one, headed "Where are they?" which is from the pen of one of the Editors of The Christian, and immediately follows the Editorial upon our paper.ED. E. 0. Observer, Nov. 15, '77. most of our successful evangelists, as inconsistent with the calm deliberation that should prevail when the mind is acting upon questions so important as those involved in a sinner's return to God. He would have such action based, not on the temporary excitement which must subside with the close of the meeting, nor upon sympathies which pathetic stories may have stirred up, but upon deep and permanent convictions of sin and of duty, that will survive the passions and the emotions of the hour. Results would not be as large, as looked upon by human eyes, but far larger as God sees results, and far more enduring. It is well worthy of our prayerful consideration whether we do not, sometimes, in our zeal, persuade persons to perform certain outward acts, such as confessing Christ with the mouth and being baptized, whose hearts have not been sufficiently impressed with the heinousness of sin, the love of God, and the nature of the solemn obligations they are about to assume. 2. Bro. King doubts the scripturalness of always taking the confession of the sinner's faith baptism. In many cases, he admits, where the in Christ, as sufficient evidence of his fitness for parties are known to the preacher, also their wishes and convictions, the confession is adequate testimony, and the person should be baptized without further examination. But where parties are entirely unknown to the preacher, he thinks the practice is hazardous. There may be some, and doubtless are some, who will dissent from this position; yet who of us have not baptized persons who, we were afterwards convinced, were not proper subjects of baptism Nor is there much room for doubt, that an examination would have detected such unfitness, in most cases at least. What is here meant by an examination and what the paper means is the breadth of the heavens removed from the practice of our Baptist brethren, of requiring the candidate to tell an experience and give an account of his feelings, prior to his baptism. This, with them, is to ascertain, not whether the person believes on Christ and is determined to live a new life, but whether he has obtained the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are authorized by the Commission to ascertain whether those demanding baptism are really penitent believers or not, but are not authorized to require of them evidence that they are pardoned, before baptizing them. 3. We are glad to see in this closing article, a point emphasized that The Christian has often insisted on, viz. :-Before the preacher tells the people what to do to be saved, let him preach so as to make people willing and anxious to be Observer, Nov. 15, 77 WHERE ARE THEY? saved. Let the sinner be convinced that he is lost and undone, and that Christ died to save him, and is willing to save him, before the way to him be pointed out. As a whole, we commend the essay of Bro. King to the thoughtful examination of our readers. WHERE ARE THEY? WHAT becomes of the many additions to the churches we have reported every year in our papers? Here is a church numbering 200 members. A revivalist or evangelist comes along and gathers in fifty new members. During the following year two or three members die, a half dozen move away, and when the report of the church is sent into our Conventions the same old 200 are reported. What becomes of the new members, or the additional forty who ought to be reported in some way? They cannot be members of the church or else they would be reported as such. Evidently they are out of the church, away from Christ, in some way. Are we to gain and lose in this way year after year without any remedy, or hope of remedy? Our judgment is that we ought to give our earnest heed to this perplexing and humiliating fact, and if possible find where the trouble is, that the proper remedy may be administered. We cannot blame the Gospel of Christ for this result as being insufficient to accomplish the work the Lord expected it to accomplish. Paul says: "It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." This is true, and not doubted by any one who believes the Bible to be a revelation from God. The Gospel then is the power of God to save men from their sins. The failure to save men cannot be attributed to the Gospel. The failure is not with God, nor Christ, nor the Holy Spirit, but must in some way be connected with the way our evangelists and preachers do their work. Believing that the trouble is here we pause at this place a moment for investigation. When a preacher goes out to hold a meeting he is expected to preach the Gospel-Christ and Him crucified. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and this power must in some way come in contact with those who are to be saved, or they will not be saved. They cannot be saved without faith, and they cannot believe on Him of whom they have not heard, and they cannot hear without a preacher. For proof of this see Rom. x. 14, and other passages of Scripture. Then Christ must be preached in order that men may believe on Him and obey Him. There are no genuine cases of conversion without this part of the work being done. But if men do 297 not preach Christ, or preach Christ in part, how can their hearers be converted to God? We do not understand how they are converted to Christ when they have had no foundation for faith in Him. Faith comes by hearing the word of God and when the word of God is not preached we would reasonably conclude that a Gospel faith does not and could not exist. Several times we have listened to some beautiful stories about the death of little Charlie and Mary, or the rescue of some orphan child, or dear friend. We have frequently shed tears over these tender little stories, but somehow they never impressed us that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that men needed Him for a Saviour. Little incidents can be related at the right time and place with good effect, but to make one's sermon of these stories is to cease preaching Christ and Him crucified. When men and women come into the church under such preaching, or sensational preaching, they have no intelligent faith, and are not converted to Christ. They believe, it may be, in the preacher, and may attend church just because they like the preacher and would rather belong to some church than to the world. they do not love the Lord Jesus Christ because they do not believe on Him, and therefore are not born of God. But Faithful, loyal, devoted members can only be made by teaching them the way of life. Jesus said: "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them," etc. This is the way into the Church of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. No man or woman is a subject, a proper subject, of Christian baptism who has not been taught so that they understand what they are doing when they are baptized. In this they ought to proceed intelligently and with great faith in Christ. solemn thing to be baptized into the name of Christ. It is also a solemn thing for a minister to baptize any one who is prepared to be baptized; but to go through the sham with those who know nothing of the plan of salvation, and who have little or no faith in Christ, is a fearful thing. It is a We But an objection is urged here, to the effect that if we wait to be certain, in all cases that the subjects for baptism are proceeding intelligently, then we will not gain near so many accessions to the church as we now have. do not doubt but that it is true, that for a short time, we would not have so many additions, but then the addition would be a better class, and in the long run we would gain very much. Again: All young members coming into the church need a continual watch-care over them by a competent teacher or pastor. It is not expected that babes in Christ will live very long without some care. They must be watched, |