Church of Christ Studies

Three Great Religions

I have promised to talk to you to-night about the three great religions of the Bible, or what might be equally styled the three dispensations of God's government unto man. Notwithstanding the opinions of a number of learned men of the earth, I really believe that God created man out of the dust of the earth; that he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; that he stood there a living soul, bearing the impress of divinity upon his brow and the very stamp of God's image upon his heart. it was intended for him to exercise dominion over all the Ashes of the sea, the very animals of the earth, and the beasts of the field. He was then fit company for Divine association in that innocent, happy state that characterized his original condition; but after sin entered into the earth, in harmony with the dignity of the law and the majesty thereof, Jehovah saw At to drive him out, and thereby man forfeited that splendid association and heavenly companionship that had at first characterized his condition, and from then on was driven out and made to grope his way down the aisles of time.

 

God loves him still, and seeks to bring about a restoration to his original condition, and hence, as a means to that end, establishes the first system of religion know to mankind, or the first general system of government under which man is thus placed. it is generally known in Bible language and by all students thereof by the name of the "Patriarchal Age," lasting for a period of twenty-five hundred years, from Adam to Moses.

 

The word "patriarch" means a father, as the head or ruler of the family. The patriarchal age would be that system of Divine government executed and carried out by the father of every family. Hence, this is the only system of which we have a record for the first twenty-Ave hundred years of the world's history.

 

It was God's custom and manner to deal with the father direct, and never with the members of the family, only through the father as the representative thereof. For instance, unto the sons and daughters of Adam, God regulated their lives through laws given unto the father, or the head of the family. To the sons of Noah, God directed them by laws given unto Noah, and the sons of Abraham were governed by laws given to Abraham, and so on down the line of each, according to generation and the family to which he belonged.

 

There is one verse back in Gen. 18 that I think reflects the whole system, where, concerning Abraham, God said: "For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah." And in that statement there is the explanation of the dispensation known as the patriarchal age or system of government.

 

All laws were not revealed at one time; but, considering man's state and ability to make advancement, God gave laws as man was able to receive them and in perfect harmony with his progress. These laws were such as would finally fit him for the coming of the Messiah, the fullness of God's intention in the remedial system of mankind. Hence, in the early morning of time he gave unto Adam the law of animal sacrifice, with the victim and the altar, and made known to them, since all sacrifices back there were but typical of the coming Christ, that the Lord himself was to be approached only upon the presentation of blood or the slaughter of some victim in whose veins blood flowed.

 

Later on God gave to Noah the commission to build an ark, in which alone he was to be transferred from the wicked antediluvian world to the new, purified and cleansed by water. Later on God gave to Abraham the law of circumcision, designating and differentiating his sons and posterity from the races of the world round about. There was a complete system of laws adapted to the ignorance, weakness, and slow development of the newly fallen race; but God expected them to live up to the full demands as made obligatory upon them in the simplicity of the few laws thus imposed upon them.

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Their standard, therefore, was far inferior to that under which you and I now live; and all the declarations concerning these patriarchs are to be measured and determined in the light of the age in which they lived. For instance, it is said of Noah that he was a perfect man in his generation, and yet weak enough to become drunk after he emerged from the ark into the new world. Abraham, because of his righteousness, was called the "friend of God," and yet by the incident that occurred down in the land of Egypt he almost caused the destruction of an innocent people and their king by announcing to them the half-true statement regarding Sarah that she was a sister, when, as a matter of fact, she was only his half sister and his legal wife. Let me say, moreover, that the marriage which was then recognized and accepted by God would be considered in the light of the gospel age nothing short of incest—one of the most abominable crimes of which the human race can be guilty.

 

Hence, when we study those characters of the long ago, we ought to bear in mind that the apostle said in Acts 17: 30 that at the time of their ignorance God "winked at" — passed it by, overlooked it—but now, under the gospel age, commands all men everywhere to repent. Incest and polygamy were tolerated by God Almighty under the patriarchal age, but never approved; and it would be but foolish, I think, to base an argument upon these examples to the intent that it would be right for me to do those things under this splendid age in which we now live.

 

While the laws were few and absolutely simple, yet God expected obedience to the very letter and the very spirit thereof; for it is said in Holy Writ (Heb. 2: 2) that every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, and Paul recites that fact as an argument to show how you and I cannot expect to escape the wrath of God if we neglect so great salvation under which we are now privileged to live.

 

This is further illustrated in the historic story of Cain and Abel, where God Almighty commanded that they offer a blood sacrifice unto the Lord. I learn from Paul's comment in Heb. Il: 4, where he said, "By faith [and be it remembered that faith comes from hearing God's word] Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," that the sacrifice by him was accepted, while the one tendered by Cain was rejected. I do not know but that Cain fancied that something else would do just as well; and hence, being a farmer and a tiller of the soil, he brought forth from the earth the fruit thereof and offered that in all honesty and perfect sincerity as a substitute for the sacrifice which God commanded. But it was rejected, and early in the morning of God's dealings with humanity there was a principle demonstrated and carried out that God expects the strictest obedience unto his will, and no substitute will be accepted as an equivalent. Nothing short will meet with heaven's approval.

 

This system of government was purely that pertaining to a family. it was suited to the age unto which it was given. There were very few people then upon the earth, who were nomadic in their nature, wandering about from place to place, and it was fitting that their system of religion was such that wherever they chose to go, the head of the family, acting as the patriarch and the priest, could build an altar and there offer a sacrifice, assured of the fed that it would meet with God's approval and secure his richest benedictions to rest upon them.

 

This dispensation, system of government, or first religion by God established upon the earth lasted for twenty-five hundred years, until the establishment of a greater religion; and if it did not end at that time, it was applicable thereafter only unto that part of the world separate from the posterity of Abraham.

 

But having led a tremendous host of perhaps something like three million souls out of the land of Egypt, fifty days thereafter God brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai and there inaugurated a system of government absolutely new, wholly separate, not dependent upon nor leaning upon any of the characteristic features of the patriarchy, destined, as it was, to last for the next fifteen hundred years. This is known in Bible story and in Bible history as the Jewish, or the Mosaic, dispensation. The change wrought was the emergence from a family system to a national one.

 

No longer is it a family affair; no longer does the father, or the head of the family, officiate. God no longer is dealing with humanity simply as a family; but having led them, if you please, throughout the kindergarten department of his great school, they now become a nation, and into their hands God is ready to place the first textbook ever delivered unto mortal men. Hitherto all the teaching and information was given by direct word of mouth, just as we teach children in the kindergarten department; but after coming out of Egyptian bondage and receiving the basis of that law at Mount Sinai, the religion of the world, from that good hour unto this, has been what might be properly called a "book religion." God's will, demand, and word to the human race has been written upon the pages of truth Divine and confirmed by the approbation of God Almighty, sealed and dedicated by the blood of animals and at last by the blood of the spotless Son of Mary. By this word the sons and daughters of men have ever thereafter been directed in all of the affairs of life.

 

This Jewish system of religion, as before stated, was not based upon the patriarchal, and, with the exception of just two principles, it was an entirely new feature unto the nationality descending from the seed of Abraham. Inasmuch, my friends, as all things back there had to be of necessity typical of the blood of Christ, and inasmuch as the blood of Christ had not been shed, it was necessary that animal sacrifices characteristic of the patriarchal age likewise be involved in the system of Judaism; and whereas the sons of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the Israelites, make up this great nationality, there was the doctrine of circumcision still in effect; but, with these exceptions, God gave to the Jews at Mount Sinai a new covenant and a new dispensation, wholly distinct in all of its phases and parts from that which had characterized the history of the world for the previous twenty-five hundred years.

 

it is not amiss to suggest to you that the entire system of the Mosaic law was but typical or symbolic in its nature—scarcely any prominent feature connected therewith but that was typical of that which was to come when the fullness of time came upon the earth. The wanderings in the wilderness, the temple, and the tabernacle were typical of the church of God under the last dispensation. Moses, their matchless leader and lawgiver, the lamb sacrificed under the law, were but typical of the Christ who was afterwards to come. The common priests back there were typical of Christian people to-day, and the service through which they passed was largely but a picture painted upon the pages of God's word of the service in which you and I, too, are to engage, and from which all benedictions and the promises of God must forever come.

 

But be it remembered that the law was exceedingly weak and only intended for a short time to fulfill the purposes that God had in mind. Hence, Paul, in commenting upon it in Rom. 8: 3, said: "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son," etc. The weakness of the law is demonstrated in various and sundry ways, one of which was that all those who had a part therein and rendered obedience thereto could never be rid of the consciousness that there was something lacking that was to be fulfilled in the golden by and by. All the worshipers never had their conscience thoroughly purged, but were ever mindful of the fact that there is to be a repetition of our acts time and again until by and by the fullness shall have come upon us in the earth. With all the sacrifices that characterized their affairs, there was no forgiveness, no blotting out, no wiping away of the sins and of the transgressions in the absolute, but only were those sacrifices typical of the Christ that was by and by to come, the shedding of whose blood was at last fully, wholly, and completely to rid the world of the sin under which it was then cursed. That statement is further and fully verified in Heb. 10, where Paul says: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect, For then would they not have ceased to be offered?

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But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin." But these animals being all they had, evidenced the fact that the sacrifices must be repeated year after year in the regular order. For instance, when under the Mosaic dispensation faithful, loyal Jews brought their sacrifices unto the altar, sought out a priest of the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron, and the sacrifice was offered, they were conscious of the fact that the sacrifice that was offered only rolled forward their sins, pushed them on in front, for just one year at a time, at the expiration of which there came that great load of sin back upon them, and hence another sacrifice had to be offered. And thus it was on down the line for a period of fifteen hundred years, until by and by the Christ ultimately came. There was nothing made perfect, as Paul emphatically declared in Heb. 7: 19, under the law of Moses. The law made nothing perfect, but it remained for a better covenant thus to do. Let me suggest again that under the law there was a man-made tabernacle, with all the apartments purely pertaining to earth, to time, and to timely things, which was destined to last through their wandering in the wilderness, on until Solomon's temple should be built; and that likewise was transient in its nature, fitting type though it was of the final culmination and the ultimate development of the church of God.

 

Finally, my friends, the law was intended only as our pedagogue, or schoolmaster, to bring us unto the Christ— unto that faith, unto that final system, which was to be world-wide, ecumenical, unlimited, unrestricted by any nationality, country, tribe, tongue, or people upon the earth.

 

Perhaps a series of questions with reference thereto might develop and bring out in full plainness some of the primary, elementary principles found therein; and so I ask, therefore: For what purpose did God Almighty ever inaugurate the law given by him to Moses in the summit of Mount Sinai? But for the fact that Paul has answered, it would be largely speculative and imaginary on the part of humanity; but in Gal. 3: 19, Paul, in arguing that question, has this to say: "Wherefore then serveth the law? it was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." Be it remembered, my friends, that four hundred and thirty years previously God had called out Abraham and had announced unto him a world- wide promise—namely, that "in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Four hundred and thirty years rapidly sped by, at the end of which time God led them out and brought them to Sinai and there gave them a law, and Paul said it was added because of transgressions. it stepped out upon the stage, if you please, as an actor emerging from the background, played its part as was intended, and then made its exit, giving place to another greater and grander.

 

What sin had been committed, what law had been transgressed? May I suggest to you that the inference is not wanting nor the suspicion lacking that direct reference was made to the fact that the sons of Abraham were marrying daughters of the Gentile world, thereby corrupting and defiling the blood stream through which and from which the Christ was by and by to come? Hence, something must be done in order that the family of Abraham be kept pure, in order that through his seed, and that alone, the Christ should by and by come. God, therefore, built a wall separating the Jews from the rest of humanity, forbidding them to mix and mingle and associate or intermarry with the rest of the world, until by and by the great promise made to Abraham should ultimately be fulfilled. Hence, Paul said: "Because of transgressions God gave this law."

 

But the next question: For how long did Heaven intend the same to last? Notwithstanding the conflict in theories and doctrines of men, I submit to you the plain declaration of God's word in reply thereto, and this same verse absolutely and positively answers the question that is propounded: "Wherefore then serveth the law' it was added because of transgressions" until a certain thing should come to pass. Now, you stop and ask what that means. The record says: Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made." God's word being true, therefore, the law of Moses wars never intended to last for all time nor to be applicable to all people in its every announcement. In the very beginning God said it was added because of transgression until the promised seed should come. And in the same chapter, verse 16, I do not have to guess as to what Paul meant by the promised seed of Abraham, for he said: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Hence, verse 19 might well be read after this fashion: "Wherefore, brethren, then serve the law, which was added because of transgression, until the Christ should come, and it was ordained in the hands of a mediator."

 

Jesus Christ occupied and sustained a relationship to that law that is admirable in all of its phases. He was to be the end or fulfillment of all things connected therewith. Hence, he is the end of the law, no doubt of that; and during his entire career he lived in perfect harmony and with direct deference and due regard to all of the principles therein found; and to set aside a prevalent opinion that perhaps prevailed when he was born upon the earth he announced in the memorable Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5: 17, 18): "My friends, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy. I have come as a fulfiller, and until heaven and earth shall pass away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law until all be fulfilled."

 

Not only did Christ himself teach the observance of the law, but he practiced it and commanded his disciples to observe the things taught by those who sat in Moses' seat; and until finally when he expired on the tree of the cross there was never a time but that Jesus recognized the dignity of the law of Moses, the fed that God was its giver, and it was his purpose not to destroy it, not to violate it, but to live in perfect obedience and ultimately be the fulfillment thereof.

 

It served its purpose to bring us down the line until the Christ should come. Paul styles it our "schoolmaster," or our pedagogue, whose business was not to teach the classes, but to go to the home of the children in the early morning, have general oversight and care thereof, accompany them from their home down to the schoolroom, and turn them over to the real teacher thereof. Thus the law of Moses began just as they marched from Egyptian bondage in their state of progress or development, led them down and educated them for fifteen hundred years, and finally brought them unto Christ, their great Teacher, Leader, Lawgiver, Prophet, Priest, and King.

 

You ask finally, friends, what was the end thereof? In discussing this point, Paul said in Col. 2: 14: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." The Bible does not declare that God's Son simply took away the ceremonial part or the judicial part; but in discussing the law Paul said that he blotted it out, took it out of the way, and nailed it (the law) unto the cross. And, again, in Eph. 2, discussing the very same thing, commencing with verse 13, he has this to say: "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity [what was the "enmity?"], even the law of commandments contained in ordinances." Well, why that? "That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." Equivalent to the expression that he might make in himself of the twain one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. The only thing under the shining stars that ever alienated or separated the Jew and the Gentile was the law, known as the Mosaic dispensation, or Jewish age; and thus when that was blotted out, it was equivalent to the tearing down of the middle wall of partition; and no longer national lines, race distinction, or any kind of relationship other than that of a mutual one was thereafter to prevail. Hence, Paul spoke in Gal. 3:28, 29 after this fashion: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." And this, my friends, was the final culmination characteristic thereof.

 

But, passing from the law as being accepted and Fulfilled and finished by Christ, there was to be inaugurated a better covenant, founded upon better promises. That dispensation, beginning as it did on the memorable Pentecost, continuing until time's knell shall be sounded and all the ransomed of earth are gathered home, we are under now—the reign of Christ as our Priest and great King.

 

But be it remembered that Christ was not a priest while upon the earth he remained. Paul declared in Heb. 8: 4: "If he [Christ] were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law." The priesthood upon this earth was provided under the law of Moses. The priesthood of Christ and the reign thereof is one to be higher than the earth; it was to be higher than the heavens themselves. Hence, it is declared in Eph. 4: 8 that "he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men"—this indicative of the beginning of his reign. In that very simple text, friends, Jesus, the Christ, is represented as a victorious monarch, coming forth from battle with the victories won, and at the head of the great procession of the vanquished foe. Governments in days gone by were characterized by the king's bestowal of princely gifts upon the parties and individuals of his government; and so, in perfect accord therewith, Paul said that he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. When Christ at last ascended the throne and was seated at the right hand of God as "King of kings, and Lord of Lords," entering into his priestly relationship, he commenced by the giving of gifts unto the apostles and the disciples, evidencing the fact that the new reign is now to be inaugurated—a world-wide system, not bounded by national ties or racial distinctions, but for every man and to all the sons and daughters of men. The Son of God is now occupying David's throne, having ascended into the heaven and become "head over all thing! to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all;" and hence there is the inauguration of that system of religion under which you and I are to gladly live and willingly respond tonight.

 

Be it remembered that this new dispensation could not have begun prior to the death and triumphant resurrection of the Son of God. That is stated in such a simple, easy way, in language that you and I can appreciate and understand, embodying all the principles as found in Heb. 9: 16, 17. Paul said this: "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." I am sure that this audience understands and appreciates the simplicity of that statement. When men in Nashville make their wills, write out a disposition of their effects, that will is not operative nor effective while the maker thereof is alive. He can destroy it, write another wholly different, dispose of his property in any way that seemeth good to him. But if a man die slid among his effects his will or testament is found, it becomes effective when a certain legal procedure is carried out; but it is of no effect until after the man is dead.

 

So Paul pictured the Christ se the maker of the great will, in which it is possible for every man on the face of the earth to become a beneficiary, and emphatically declares that where the will is and where the testament is, there must not may, but must-always be the death of the testator; for a testament is of force after men are dead, "otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."

 

You and I tonight, therefore, are not living under the patriarchal dispensation, not living subject to the law of Moses, and we will search in vain if we try from the teachings of Christ in his personal ministry or the work of John the Baptist to read our titles clear to mansions over there. I grant you that Christ taught many things that were afterwards to be incorporated in his will. For instance, when he gave the great commission, authorized the apostles to preach the gospel unto every creature and offer salvation and remission of sins upon obedience thereunto, that is followed by the statement that they were to go to Jerusalem and there tarry until they be clothed upon with power from on high. When Christ made the splendid promise to Peter at the foot of Mount Hermon (Matt. 16: 19), "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," it is said (mark the next statement—verse 20): "Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ." Why, friends? On the principle that the time is not come, the testament is not of force until it shall be sealed and dedicated and consecrated for evermore by the blood of the maker thereof.

 

In that wonderful scene of the transfiguration, in the next chapter in the book of Matthew, there are presented Moses and Elias and Christ—three of the earth's greatest characters. Peter, James, and John, as witnesses thereof, are enraptured by the grandeur and sublimity of the scene; and hence they suggest: "Let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.)) Then there was a bright cloud that overshadowed them, they having fallen to the earth because of fear; and when they rose up and opened their eyes, behold, all had passed sway save Jesus, the Christ. The purport of all this, beyond the shadow of a doubt, is this idea: "Time was when you should have heard the voice of Elijah; the time has been when you should have lent an attentive ear unto the direction of Moses, Israel's great lawgiver; but now the time has come when they have both been eclipsed by the supreme glory, the superlative grandeur of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and he stands here a physical demonstration that we should listen unto him." And there came from the skies the sublime declaration: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." No longer listen to those gone by; they have served their purpose, fulfilled their mission, and faded away, giving rise to a greater and grander, in which successive stage Christ alone is left, and hence hear him. But just before the Lord bade them goodby, mark this significant statement made to the disciples: "Tell no man that Jesus is the Christ until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." "I have incorporated the principles, indeed; but the time has not come for them to be operative, as yet they are of no force; and hence you wait until you be endued with power from on high. Wait until the appointed time in God's providence for this will to be probated by the court of high heaven; wait until God sends acknowledgment, letters testamentary, unto you as executors thereof, and then, with the will and the testament having been sealed, commencing at Jerusalem, go throughout Judea, then Samaria, then Galilee, and then finally speed across the continents and bear the glad tidings unto earth's uttermost bounds." The apostles, therefore, became the executors, the ambassadors, of God's will; and hence I can understand what Paul meant when he said: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." "His affairs have been turned over to us. We bear evidence of the fed that he selected us, he authorized us, and clothed us with power; he clothed us, if you please, with authority from on high, and bade us, as executors of his will, to carry the glad tidings over the rivers unto the ends of the earth."

 

It behooves you and me to-night that we investigate the gospel age, that we learn what God would have us do in this last will and testament under—not the patriarchal age nor the Jewish age, but the gospel age. We are not under the starlight nor the moonlight, but under the full strength of the sunlight age of God's revelation to man; not under a family religion, not under a national religion, but under an ecumenical religion, absolutely unbounded; not during the time when God appeared in vision, not during the time when he appeared wholly in words, but in that dispensation when he appeared manifest in the flesh and evidenced his very person by the gift of his matchless Son to mortal men. Under this dispensation, friends, we are no longer commanded nor authorized to offer animal sacrifice; no longer do we have to go to Jerusalem and there find a priest of the tribe of Levi and of the house of Aaron-no longer are we thus to do; but beside Calvary's bleeding brow we should gladly come and say: "Lord, speak, command; we will hear."

 

I bid you stop and reflect: What does the gospel age demand? That it demands faith in the Son of God, I think no sober-minded soul would question; that the same gospel age and Christian dispensation requires of you and me that from our sins we turn away and in absolute and genuine penitence resolve to forsake the evil of out, way, the unrighteousness of our thoughts, and turn unto God with all our hearts; that, in addition to that, the Christian dispensation demands and commands that you and I confess with the mouth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, which amounts to the acceptance of God's full and complete revelation, which amounts to the placing of our hands in the wounded palm of our Savior and at one hundred per cent believe what he says, do what he requires, submit to his authority, render the obedience demanded by this great King and High Priest, and lovingly trust him for the promise. We should understand that he demands of us to obey from the heart that form of doctrine which has been delivered unto us under the ceremony, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as a result of which, salvation, forgiveness of sins, deliverance, translation from the kingdom of darkness unto the kingdom of God's dear Son, certainly is the promise of God's everlasting truth.

 

Faith and obedience to the law of Moses in all of its forms and phases produces a certain product as the natural and the logical result. Will you stop and think just a moment what was the effect of believing and obeying in all of its phases the law that emanated from Sinai? As a matter of fact, faith and obedience to that law made Jews, and Jews alone. it made no peculiar types nor varied kinds nor diverse sorts; but they were simply Jews, without addition, without subtraction, because the law of Moses, when faithfully carried out and loyally obeyed, produces but the one thing everywhere. Every one stood on the same plane, the same level, believed the same thing, practiced the same thing, and enjoyed the same benedictions from the hand of God Divine.

 

Faith and obedience to the gospel of Christ under the Christian age will produce but one thing, and that is a Christian—not various types nor shades nor kinds nor phases, not with addition, not with subtraction, but simply a Christian under the banner of Christ Jesus, our Lord.

 

And now I must conclude. Wheresoever I chance to go, and the people, like you, so kindly lend their presence and their encouragement by their polite and patient attention, it is a pleasure to ask them openly and frankly and with a conscience void of offense on that line at least to accept the gospel of the Son of God Divine. My friends, if I had it absolutely in my power to-night and all the authority unto me granted, I would not have any man in all this splendid capital city of ours become and be anything under the shining heavens above except simply a child of God—a Christian. I would have you become identified and related to no body except the body of Christ, the church of God, of which I read in the New Testament Scriptures. I would give to him no creed, no confession of faith, no church manual, no church directory, other than God's book, and bid him to believe what he is required to believe in obedience to his will, and, having done that, to trust him lovingly for the promise that when life's fitful dream shall have passed, God will send a company of angels to gather round about him and as pallbearers conduct his spirit home to glory to nestle in the bosom of a Father's love while Eternity rolls her endless ages on.

 

May I ask tonight that if there are those who understand what the will of the Lord is and have the purpose of heart and mind to render obedience to it, as we sing the gospel song, will you press your way down the aisles and give me your hand?

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