Church of Christ Studies

Instrumental Music

The presence of a large audience like this is certainly indicative of the interest you have in these efforts that are being made from time to time to study together and think together on those things that ought to be of genuine interest unto every man. I want to say to you that I appreciate the presence of this large company, and do hope that we may to-night, without prejudice and as nonpartisans, enter upon the study of the subject coolly, calmly, and deliberately. 

 

According to announcement of last night, I suggested to you that, in response to a number of queries, I wanted to apeak to-night about why it was and is that we do not have instruments of music here on the stand or anywhere else in the audience. I think you have a right to know that, and I am sure that I am perfectly willing to give to every man that asketh me a reason for anything done or for anything not done in the worship of God Almighty. Now, in the discussion to-night of that proposition, allow me to say at the very outset that it isn't a New Testament theme to discuss the question of instrumental music, for I presume that everybody who knows anything about it at all knows that there is not a word said in the entire New Testament about it. If that statement be true, it ought to forever settle the matter to all those who have subscribed to the New Testament as their rule of faith and practice.

 

Now, of course, if a man has not done that, then the statement true or false, would have but little to do with him. Now, notwithstanding the silence of the New Testament, there is great interest in the subject, as is evidenced by the enlarged audience of the evening. Permit me to say to you, my friends, that in the discussion of this matter there is a vital principle involved, which I hope to develop to the extent that all of us may be perfectly clear in mind regarding it.

 

Now, I am not unmindful of the fact that it is very popular—exceedingly so—in most religious services to have physical instruments of music as an accompaniment to their vocal service; and, perhaps, of the religious bodies represented in this country, it is but fair and right to say that the great majority so do. But I want to ask of you as sensible people: Does the fact that the majority practice such argue the scripturalness or the soundness thereof? I take it that you will all agree with me that the majority of the people of Tennessee or of America would be worthless in settling what God says regarding any matter or what he failed to say. Be it remembered as we reflect over the historic past that the majority of the people in Bible history have been wrong more times, perhaps, than they have been right, and that is an important thought for us to consider. The explanation lies in the statement that God's ways are not like man's ways, neither are God's thoughts like man's thoughts; and, therefore, when a matter is left purely to the thoughts of the people, the chances are that they are going astray.

 

Now, notwithstanding the popularity and the general fact that a majority of the people are accustomed to use instrumental music, I want to say that, in all candor, I honor the man who for conscience's sake can stem the tide of public sentiment, go against the currents, and face the wind in his steadfastness for what he believes to be taught in the book of God, popular sentiment to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

The use of instrumental music in the worship of God was practiced in the Old Testament period. it was first introduced in the religious service four hundred and forty-nine years after the Israelites had crossed out of Egyptian bondage, the record of which is found in 1 Chron. 16, at which time David was king of Israel; and hence under that system of government, which itself was contrary to the authority and the direction of God, instrumental music, four hundred and forty-nine years after the law was given at Sinai, was practiced and allowed to be done during the days of David and subsequent thereto.

 

For about three dozen times in the Old Testament instruments of music are mentioned in connection with the worship of God; but when you turn to the New Testament, not three dozen times, not even one time, is it thus mentioned, showing beyond the possibility of a reasonable doubt that while it prevailed throughout the days of David and subsequent thereto under Judaism, at the very institution and inauguration of the Christian dispensation and of the church of the living God it was purposely left out. Therefore the silence of the Scriptures regarding it certainly ought to have some moment and some weight upon those who rely upon the New Testament.

 

Those people among our religious neighbors and friends who practice infant baptism, for instance, are consistent in likewise practicing instrumental music; and I never have charged as get their inconsistency or their lack of harmony, for the same authority for babies being members of the church gives the authority for instrumental music. But any man is inconsistent and absolutely so, when he assumes that the one is forbidden and the other is incorporated. The man does not live that can be in harmony and consistent on a proposition of that kind. If instrumental music is to accompany the worship to-night, under the gospel age, from every point of authority and reason, harmony and consistency, babies ought to be entitled to church membership, and must come in upon the very same ground and from practically every point of view.

 

But we are not living, friends, under the regime and the rule of the Old Testament for Paul said (Heb. 8:6-10): "Now hath he [Christ] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." For finding fault with the first, the prediction was that "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;" and note, further, it is "not according to the covenant that ] made with their fathers in the days when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts."

 

Now, formerly they had received a law written on the outside-upon tables of stone—the effect of which was to work its way inwardly to the hearts, consciences, and lives of the people; but under the gospel age the beginning of God's law is in the heart, and, like the measures of meal, it works its way outward until all has come under the influence and the realms thereof.

 

So, then, unless in the New Testament dispensation some man can put his finger upon that passage of scripture which indicates authority for instruments of music in the worship, there is a departure from the principle of the fathers and from the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Moses said (see Deut. 18:15), in pointing down the ages: "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me, and him shall you hear in all things; and it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear him shall be cut off, for he hath broken the covenant of the Lord."

 

Now, that scripture simply suggests this, or else it is of no significance, namely, the time was when we were to listen to Moses, the time was when we were to give heed to David, and the time was when we were to turn an attentive ear unto Elijah; but all of those having fulfilled their place, God will raise up a Prophet like unto Moses, and him shall you hear in all things. Hence, whatsoever the Lord has said, that is the law governing the people under the Christian dispensation. What the law has not said and the Lord has not declared is absolutely not binding; and it would be an act of presumption to insist upon the incorporation of the same into the rules, regulations, and practices of the church of which he is the head.

 

"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." This scripture evidences the fact that to-night we live under the reign of Christ; and then, to make demonstration beyond the shadow of a doubt, there is the lesson given on the mount of trans- figuration when Moses, Christ, and Elias appeared. Suddenly there came a cloud overshadowing the sun, and the three disciples fell to the earth because of the fear in their hearts; and when they looked up, behold, all had passed away save Christ Jesus, the Lord; and then the voice coming from the eternal world said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."

 

Now, the object of the transfiguration was not that God might acknowledge his Son; for already, at the Savior's baptism, God had said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" but on the scene of the transfiguration he added the primary lesson to be impressed by it and said: "Hear ye him."

 

No longer, then, are we subject unto the authority of Moses or of the prophets, nor the precepts and examples of David, but unto Christ and the apostles, to whom his great commission was given and to whom the business was turned over for execution. Now, the principle that is involved in this ought to settle all matters akin thereto. it is a principle that is not new, but was started first of all between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli, of Switzerland, a contemporary of the great reformer of Saxony. When Luther and Zwingli, in their study of the Scriptures, came to lay down some fundamental principles, they parted company; and I submit to you tonight that the question becomes settled according to whose principle you accept.

 

Luther said: "I favor bringing into the church of God and having a part and parcel thereof anything and everything not specifically forbidden and directly condemned." That was Luther's attitude assumed toward the Bible, and I want to stop here long enough for you to get it so that you can say it on the way home, say it after you lay down, say it tomorrow morning when you rise up. The principle is that we will accept into the service and worship of God anything and everything not directly and specifically forbidden by the Bible.

 

On the other hand, the great Swiss reformer said: "My platform is that in the matter of worship to God and service to the Lord we will accept nothing unless the Scriptures authorize it." God must ordain it or it will have no part in his service.

 

I submit to you, ladies and gentlemen, that if you will subscribe to either of those principles I can tell you the rest. Just tell me what your attitude toward the word of God is going to be, and the question is settled once and for all as to where you will drift, the manner of worship in which you will engage.

 

Now, as a matter of fact, I have subscribed one hundred per cent to the last principle, which is this: Take God at his word, believe what he says, do just what he requires, live as he directs, and trust him for the promises. Let us bow at his feet and say: "Lord, not my will, but thine, be done." "Speak, and I will hear; command, and I will obey. Whatever you say do, that I will perform; and in the absence of heavenly and Divine authority, let me refrain and not presume to walk other than in the light of revealed truth."

 

If I could get the citizenship of Nashville to subscribe to that one principle and mind it, I would be perfectly content to leave, assured of the fact that not many moons would have rolled round until such a great restoration would sweep over this splendid city as has characterized none other in this land. That was the principle, ladies and gentlemen, of the great restorers; and when Barton U'. Stone laid down the principle that the Bible, and the Bible alone, should be his guide, he did not know where that would lead him. At that time he was a Presbyterian preacher, in full fellowship and relationship therewith; but when he adopted the principle of the Bible, and the Bible alone, of course it was not long until he came out of Presbyterianism and gave up its confession of faith. He became a stickler for the book of God Divine, and hence a wonderful power for God in bringing about a restoration of the principles announced in God's book in the long, long ago.

 

But, friends, you know that I oppose instrumental music in the service. A number of my very best friends think I am peculiar, and possibly I am; but I ought to congratulate myself if I am, for the Bible definitely said that God's people should be peculiar; and if that be true of me, I rather invite the discriminating characteristic. Many seem not to understand why I oppose instrumental music in the service of God. I want to say to you candidly that it is not because of any personal dislike, or of the fact that I don't love the sweet strains, the enrapturing sounds, the pleasing harmony, and the delightful rhythm that come from music performed on mechanical instruments. There is not a man in all this audience, unless having greater capacity, that appreciates anything from a Jew's harp to Ringling Brothers' brass band any more than I. I do not oppose it because of its being personally distasteful.

 

Well, I will go one step further. Some one said: "Brother Hardeman, do you believe in musical instruments in the home?" Why, indeed so. In my home there is a fiddle, a mandolin, a graphonola, and a piano. Also, in my home there are babies, and sometimes turnip salad with a little piece of hog's jowl. So, then, I am not opposed to these things per se, as is evidenced by my practice. But, ladies and gentlemen, it is not a question of whether I like or dislike anything connected with the service of God; it is not a question of whether it is distasteful or pleasing to my ear, to my taste, to my feelings, or to any of the things that go to make up my individuality; for I remember the Savior said that God is Spirit and seeks such to worship him as shall worship him in spirit and in truth, That statement implies beyond the shadow of a doubt that God's word must incorporate or provide the authority for whatever is offered as worship.

 

But in the New Testament I call your attention to some statements that are made regarding this matter.

 

In Matt. 26:30, just after the institution of the Lord's Supper, the Bible says that "when they had sung a hymn, they went out." I believe it would be a reflection upon your intelligence if I were to try to tell you what they did other than just what the records say. What did they do? They "sung a hymn." They did nothing that anybody in Nashville knows of except that "they sung a hymn" and "they went out."

 

Well, the next time I call your attention to Acts 16:25. Paul and Silas are in prison, and in the midnight hour and during one of those wonderful scenes that transpired they sang praises unto God. What did they do? The Bible says they sang praises unto Jehovah. I know that is what they did. I might guess that they did something else, but I might miss it. Numbers and numbers of people have guessed at things and so done.

 

Paul says (Rom. 15:9), by way of fulfilling a prophetic declaration, that they shall sing in the midst of the Gentiles.

 

Again, Paul declares (1 Cor. 14:15): "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding."

 

Again (Eph. 5:18, 19): "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

 

Again (Col. 3:16) : "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."

 

Then, again (James 5:13) : "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms."

 

This is the recitation of the passages found in the New Testament. Wherever God speaks of the question at all of praising and worshiping in song, it is simply: "When they had sung a hymn;" they sang the praise of God at midnight; "Sing with the spirit, and with the understanding;" "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart;" "Let the word Of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts."

 

Elder Payne has recently declared that a mechanical instrument inheres in the Greek word "psallo." Many friends rushed into print indorsing his book; but since these partisans have had time to think, they have decided that Payne covered too much territory and have sought to explain away their former indorsement. But suffice it to say that when that statement was made and supported as it was, it sounded the death knell and began the funeral march of all the arguments that might be made regarding it. Why? Because if the word from which we get the term "sing" implies an instrument of a physical nature, then you and I cannot obey God's command unless we each have one and perform on it individually. Otherwise, we would be left out; for we could not worship God by proxy like we can vote in a Democratic convention.

 

So it would follow as certain as time rolls on that everyone who undertakes to worship God by singing only would be in open rebellion or disobedience to God's word, because if the word implied the playing, then the man who sings only has only partially fulfilled God's word, and you learn from Saul's experience that partial obedience is rebellion and sinfulness in the sight of God.

 

I submit to you tonight, my friends, that no man can use instrumental music in the worship of God as an act of faith, and that is so clearly demonstrated and such a plain proposition to Bible students that only the word is sufficient. Paul said (2 Cor. 5:7): "We walk by faith." "We" who? We Christians walk by faith." The word "walk" does not mean physical, but it means our manner of life—our conduct, our deeds, our activities, our passing along the way of life, and our rendition of service to God.

 

Now, what is the principle, Paul? "We walk by faith, not by sight." Just one other thought: How does faith come? The answer (Rom. 10:17): "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Therefore, unless God's word authorizes and plainly presents it, there can be no faith regarding it. Then, speaking directly in harmony with this very sentiment (Rom. 14:23), the same apostle said: "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." I want to say to you, friends, that when I come to worship the God of my being and propose to offer to him something which he has not commanded, it is presumption on my part and but little short of an insult unto the God whom I seek to please.

 

But, again, I want to ask you, my friends, by way of repeating a thought of some nights ago in the matter of rendering service and worship to God—I want to ask who is to be pleased in that act? How are we going to settle that? When I come to worship God, is it a matter that is determined by my pleasure, or is it a disposition upon my part to worship God and to please him? 0, I think everybody would say the latter. Then this question follows: How do you know, how can you know, what pleases God Almighty other than what he has said on that question? And since God has said "sing," I do not know that the opposite, or additional, or accompaniment thereto, would meet with his approval; and until we reach the realms of bliss Divine and come in closer touch with him we will never know other than what he has said in this book.

 

But, again, I said to you that I had subscribed to the principle of being governed by what the Bible said rather than by its silence; and Paul made a general blanket proposition when he said to Timothy (2 Tim. 3: 16, 17) : "All [not just part] scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." There is no lack; there is no want, the object being "that the man of God may be perfect." "Perfect" how? With reference to his equipment, in that he is "thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Therefore, if the Bible does not specifically mention instruments of music under the authority of Christ Jesus, it follows that such is not a good work. Peter declares the same thing (2 Pet. I: 3): "According as his [God's] Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." And the question has been ringing down the ages: Where is the passage in all the New Testament upon which you can put your finger and take the stand that here God furnishes and demands the use of an instrument in his worship? But someone says: "Now, Brother Hardeman, the Bible does not forbid it; and, therefore, we are at liberty to use it, and it is permissible." Well, is that a safe principle, friends? Just grant that every word of that is true; are you willing to subscribe to that statement—that whatever the word of God does not forbid in direct statement, that Hardeman’s thing is acceptable? it would involve every man on earth in wonderful complications. Why, the Bible does not forbid, by so saying, the baptizing of the baby. No man lives who can put his finger upon the passage in God's book where it says: "Thou shalt not sprinkle water upon a baby." Now, are you ready to conclude, therefore, that it is all right?

 

The Bible has nowhere said, "Thou shalt not count beads" as an act of religious worship; and if the principle prevails, then it is perfectly permissible for our Catholic friends to go into the service of God Almighty and institute therein the counting their beads as a religious act; and if I should object, what would be the answer? With an air of triumph and a spirit of defiance, they would say: "Hardeman, where does God say you must not count beads?" Well, I would be up with my work on that proposition.

 

Then the Mormon elder might parade down the aisle with some three, four, or five women as his wives; and if I raise my voice against it, he says: "Now, Hardeman, where in the Bible does God ever say that a man must not have three wives at a time?" Well, I don't know; neither do you.

 

But someone says: "Infants are prohibited and forbidden to be baptized on the ground that God said to baptize believers, and the fact that he said baptize believers cuts out and prohibits all others who are not that." Well, I think that is correct.

 

Just so when God says "sing," that eliminates "play." When God says, "Make melody in your heart," that forbids making it upon the Jew's harp—the same principle to the dot.

 

Well, another little matter just there of which I think. I have been told by those of my friends that there is just as much scripture for the organ or piano or flute or violin as there is for the tuning fork. Well, now, supposing there is, let's make the argument and watch old Aristotle, the father of logic, smile at the solidity of it. There is as much scripture for the use of the piano as there is for the tuning fork. Therefore, the piano is authorized by the word of God. As one of the humorous pictures in the newspapers, "Can you beat it?"

 

Suppose, friends, that the tuning fork be wrong, does that make the organ right, or vice verse? Supposing that the tuning fork be right, does that make the organ right? Certainly not, for they are not parallel, and yet it is insisted that they are.

 

You watch what a tuning fork does. This is not one, but it will represent it. I strike it here, and it gives the pitch of the piece of music to be sung. Now, wait a minute. When does worship begin? In the singing of the song. The singing is the thing that is worship, and I struck the tuning fork and got the pitch of it, and the thing "has done quit" and is back in my Docket, and now we sing unto God the song, and the worship commences.

 

There was an old gentleman in my town who, in answer to this, once made this remark, and I have often thought about it: "Why," he said, "the difference between a tuning fork and the organ is this: that the tuning fork has enough respect for God to quit before the worship begins, while an organ continues all the way through."

 

Let me say to my friends who use the organ that if you would use it as a tuning fork, let it stop before we commence to worship God, I would not open my mouth against it. If, on the other hand, the introduction and the use of the tuning fork or any other fork in the service of God were such as to divide people that ought to stand together, I would say: "Away to the bottom of the Cumberland River with every tuning fork in Nashville!"

 

Well, I am told, further, that the use of the instrument aids the singing; but that brings on more talk. Now, let's see just a moment. What is the object of singing? Paul said: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in" the singing. Now, we don't sing just to be doing it, but to worship, God. it is not just a part of a cold, ritualistic formality. That is not it. But it really has a part in the service of God. Now, what is the object? According to the Bible, the object of the singing is that in those songs there may be teaching and admonition.   Well, as a matter of fact, then, when you announce the song and sing it, I just wonder could you get more teaching out of it if we were to start up a lot of musical instruments and drown it out. Would that help you to understand the teaching? For while one sings, the other counteracts it and destroys the sound and the articulation. Have I helped you to understand what is said? If in the song sung there is an idea of admonition, can you better admonish during the silence of accompaniments or with the sound of them galore? I think but to ask such a question is to answer it.

 

So, then, as a matter of fact, instrumental accompaniment cannot aid singing, so far as God's object was intended—that is, it cannot aid it in teaching and admonishing.

 

Well, now, let us try the other end of the line. Does it aid God in any way in receiving praise? Does it elucidate matters in Heaven's ear and around the throne on high? If so, nobody knows it; and it is all reducible to this: Music has a fine, soothing, pleasing effect upon me; but music has the same effect upon a beast, upon a bird, and even upon reptiles—a purely physical sensation produced by the feeling strains, the pleasing harmonies, and the splendid melodies.

 

As to whether it is refining in nature or degrading depends altogether upon the type of music rendered. The hell holes of earth have as their attraction the sweetest strains of music the world has ever heard. The old songs of the sirens were never more attractive to the human ear than the songs that are sung and the music that is rendered in some of the greatest dens and lowest dives on the face of the earth.

 

But the worship of God is spiritual. it rises in transcendency above the earth, and God has ordained that we should sing unto him and make melody, and the melody that accompanies the singing is upon the instrument known as the human heart-not simply the singing of the words and not simply the carrying of the tune, but, my friends, if there be not the sentiment back of it, if there be not the heart in it, it is not the worship demanded by God. Paul said he would rather say five words with the understanding than ten thousand which could not be understood. Therefore I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the understanding; and anything that might hinder or drown out or clash with the teaching and the admonition cannot be, by virtue of the nature of the case, a help or an aid to the service of God.

 

But I submit to you, again, friends, some other facts regarding this very same idea. I used to be told that we wanted to have instrumental music in the service because it would draw the crowds, and after we got them there we could preach the gospel unto them. Well, that is a wonderful argument, isn't it? But if the purpose is merely to draw the crowd, I would suggest that we have a brass band or arrange a prize fight on the stage. Seats at Fifty dollars per would beat an organ "all to pieces." Why not have a ball game? I noticed yesterday that seventy-two thousand people sat to watch Babe Ruth "come back." The movies and the attractions of earth, the theaters of all kinds, will draw the crowds; but let me tell you, friends, that there is only one thing that ought to appeal to an audience of a religious nature, and that is God's power, the gospel; and if men are not drawn by that, they will not be worth the drawing by anything else. As evidence of the fact, let me compliment and congratulate the good people of Nashville who have been so faithful in coming to our services here. They are not drawn by any sensational theme, not drawn by the antics of the preacher or the performances thereof; but they have come because the gospel is proclaimed, the Bible is taught, and the Scriptures commented upon in their relationship to the subject in hand. There is nothing unique in the singer, nothing peculiar about the speaker; but you came because the gospel is presented and the truth of the Bible is proclaimed. This men and women are hungering and thirsting to hear. Let us preach the unadulterated gospel to men, strike straight from the shoulder, insist upon a strict and a rigid adherence to God's word by all men, cut loose from things human, things that appeal to the flesh, things that are purely sensual and worldly in their nature, and speak where God's book speaks and be silent where it is silent. The gospel is the power and salvation of God unto every soul that believes.

 

But, ladies and gentlemen, one of the greatest reasons which I submit to you tonight for opposing instruments of music in the worship of God is the fact that all over this land and country a once happy, united, contented, peaceful, aggressive people were standing shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand; but because some wanted to be like the nations around them, following in the footsteps of David rather than of Paul, they have introduced into the service of God that which the Bible does not authorize, and the result is that a wedge has been driven and has riven and split the body of Christ from one end of this country to the other. Over the protests, over the prayers, over the anxieties, over the overtures of faithful, godly men and women, whose lives were unquestionable, who have suffered and worried and sacrificed, the instrument has been forced against their will and without God's authority, and hence a divided people, while the Canaanite and the Perizzite in the land rejoice over the divided condition of people who claim to take God at his word, live as he directs, and trust him for the promises.

 

I would rather have been the man who marched up to the Savior's body on the cross and injected the spear into it than to be responsible for having torn asunder the spiritual body of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Woe unto that man, unto that people, whomsoever they be, guilty of an act of that sort!

 

Here is the fine philosophy: Those who have insisted upon the use of the instrument of music march out, openly and above board, and admit that they can worship God acceptably, conscientiously, and honestly without the use of the organ, or man-made instrument. Brethren, if you be really sincere, honest in that declaration, for the sake of peace and harmony, in God's name, why not be the means of drawing together that which is divided and blend all together under one flag, endeavoring to keep hereafter "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" in this goodly land of ours?

 

If that were my attitude toward it, unless I am deceived within myself, it would be a genuine pleasure to march out and take my brethren by the hand and say: "Sire, I can worship God without this, and I love the peace and harmony and unity of God's people better than I love any kind of machinery made by the hands of man." If that time could come to pass and we would all preach the gospel as it was done a century ago, ere long denominationalism, human creeds, human disciplines, and human names would tumble before the solid phalanx of God's mighty host. The Bible would become the universal creed, and thus salvation would be brought unto the sons and daughters of men. it is in our power so to do, and we ought to be willing to do anything and everything possible, if there be not a matter of faith surrendered, for the accomplishment of that one thing.

 

I repeat to you what I have said time and again, brethren, that if you will take God's word, put your finger upon one single, solitary thing that I, N. B. Hardeman, do not preach and practice as a member of the church, I pledge you my word that I will introduce that thing, if possible, before the going down of to-morrow's sun. And then reverse it. If there be something which I preach and practice which is not commanded and not authorized by the word of God and you will show it in his book, I pledge myself to give that thing up, even yesterday, if it were possible. I do not want anything to stand between me and any child of God on earth, and I do not want to be the occasion for causing this (God's) people to be divided. Friends, what is it? What does Hardeman preach, what does Hardeman practice, against which there are valid and scriptural objections? I preach the Christ as the Son of God, the operation of the Holy Spirit in conviction and conversion; and if a man but believe the gospel, repent of his sins, confess his faith, be baptized, walk in newness of life as a disciple of the Lord, as a saint, as a Christian, meet with his brethren to worship God on the first day of the week, and by prayer, by teaching, by fellowship, by breaking of bread, and by singing carry out God's commands, heaven will ultimately be his home. What is there objectionable about that? What is there in that that would divide the congregations of Nashville? What is there contrary to the teachings of God's word? Let us think on these things.

 

But I have talked the limit to-night, and I now come to press the invitation once more. If there are any in this great company who as yet have not obeyed the gospel of the Son of God, this is a Ane opportunity so to do. If there are those who have wandered away and want to renew their faith, their allegiance, their relationship, we likewise bid you come. If there be any man in all this house who will take his stand upon God's book and there plant his feet, I will meet him under the realm of high heaven, and upon that foundation strike hands together, lock arms, and walk down the aisles of time as one under the flag of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Friends, time is rapidly passing; the opportunities are flying by; present decision determines future destiny. This may be the critical hour when your eternal wreck, ruin, or happiness may be settled; and I appeal to you as sensible men and women, splendid men, young manhood and young womanhood- -I want you to-night simply to become and be a Christian, I want you to become and be a member of the church about which you can read in the Bible, I want Christ to be your leader, the Bible your guide, the church of God your field of labor, and heaven your home.

​