The reader will observe that we do not suppose human laws or
regulations of any consequence in this matter. Men may
regulate the worship they require for themselves and for one
another; and in relation to those regulations there may be
disorder, error, innovation
and transgression. But as none but the Lord can prescribe or
regulate the worship due unto himself and profitable to us;
so, if he have done, it human regulations are as vain and
useless as attempts to prevent the ebbing of the sea or the
waxing and waning of the moon. But to proceed: Another society
meets for worship, and they sing all day; another
shouts all day; another runs as in a race all day; another
lies prostrate on the ground all day; another reads all day;
another hears one man speak all day; another sits silent all
day; another waves palm branches all day; another cries in the
forenoon and listens to the organ in the afternoon; and it is
all equally right, lawful, orderly, and acceptable; for there
is no divinely authorized order of Christian worship. We are
then, on the principles of reason, constrained to abandon this
side of the dilemma, and give up the hypothesis that there is
no divinely authorized order of Christian worship. Now as one
of the only two supposable cases must be abandoned, it follows
by undeniable consequence, that there is a divinely authorized
order of Christian worship in Christian assemblies
Christian.Baptist.Volume.1.New.html
But soon the arm of power was
stretched out against all whose love of truth led
them to oppose reigning abuses, and those of them who
could not escape felt the vengeance of Christianity, so
called. Those who escaped took refuge in the mountains and
vallies of the Alps, and in those wintry regions subsisted
for ages by mechanical trades. Often were they invaded,
harassed, and nearly destroyed, but never exterminated
till Louis XIV, of France sent an army to assist his
son-in-law, the duke of Savoy, in accomplishing it. About
the same time Louis had converted France into a complete
slaughter house, that if he enjoyed the title of "Beloved
Son of the Church," he showed himself worthy of it by his
zeal in what he no doubt imagined to be her interests.*
Thus history shews us, that, instead of converting men by
the plain apostolic truth concerning "Jesus and the
resurrection," simply, they were more zealous to improve
upon Nebuchadnezzar's plan, who, in his zeal for the
worship of God represented by the image on the plain of
Dura, heated a tremendous furnace, and hurled the impious
into it. He had music to draw and fire to drive, and
imagined, no doubt that the heart must be hard stubborn, and rebellious, which would not
be melted by the influence of one, nor softened by the
allurements of the other. But since the great furnace is
no more, our modern have recourse to means somewhat
different in appearance, though not in effect. They make
very little use of the tale concerning Jesus and the
resurrection;" this is too stale for the improved ears of
their audience; and what gave life to the dead in sins
nearly eighteen centuries past, might seem (to them) to
have lost its effect, and will by no means answer their
purpose. Their plan is briefly this: First they set man to
judge in his own cause—man whose heart the scripture
declares "is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, who can know it?" is set to judge of himself;
__________ *To allude to all the historic evidence
contained in the volume of Mosheim, Gibbonand others,
would be too tedious. For a concentration of historical
information upon the subject, from the most credible
authors of various parties, and writers of different ages
Now who does not perceive, from the
foregoing extracts, that when the popular religion of a
country becomes a mere formal system, it can easily unite
with the outward religion 143 of any other country? In the
present case, both have uniformity of dress, (long gowns,
&c.) both employ music in the "performance of
divine service"—both use bells—both have
their holy days, thanksgiving, preparation, fast days, and
Christmas—and both collect money on those
occasions—both have priests, with titles of
Reverend, D. D. &c.—and both "offer customary prayers"
at legislatures, courts, celebration dinners, parades,
laying corners of churches and "stone bridges," locks and
dams, &c. &c. *
1831
DISCUSSION OF UNITY
http://www.piney.com/Barton.W.Stone.Alexander.Campbell.Union.html
This is the "pre fabled union" in 1831: the denial
of any kind of
"union" in the Lunenburg quote was in 1837. Without
passing
judgment one way or another, the Reformers saw the Disciples
as just
another denomination, and saw Barton W. Stone bent on
forming a NEW
INCLUSIVE denomination. Garrison proposed to include ALL OF
CHRISTENDOM. That is why the Disciples have reached a dead
end.
Does
he mean a formal confederation of all preachers
and
people called "Christians," with all those
whom he
calls Reformed Baptists? (rather reforming,
than reformed;) or (as he represents them as
prefering for a sectarianwhat shall be the
articles of confederation, and in
what form shall they be ministered or adopted?
Shall it be in one general convention of messengers from
all the
societies of "christians" and "disciples," or one general
assembly of
the whole aggregate of both people? Shall the articles of
agreement be
drawn up in writing like the articles of the "General
Union" amongst
the different sects of Baptists in Kentucky? purpose the
name)
disciples. If so,
We
discover, or think we discover, a squinting at
some sort of precedency or priority in the claims
of the
writer of the above article, which are perhaps only in
appearance, and
not in reality; but if in appearance only, he will
prevent us or any
reader from concluding unfavorably by
explaining himself more in detail
than he has done.
He says, "The
reformed Baptists have received the
doctrine taught by us many years ago." "For nearly
thirty
years ago we taught," &c. &c. From what
source or principle these sayings proceeded, we do not
pronounce
sentence; but if they are mere words of course, and he
intended to
plead nothing from them, we would suggest the propriety
of qualifying
them in such a way as to prevent mistake.
I am,
as at present advised, far from thinking
that the present advocates of reformation are only
pleading, or at all
pleading, for what was plead in Kentucky thirty years
ago, after the dissolution of the Springfield
Presbytery. If such be the conceptions
of brother Stone, I am greatly mistaken. That he, with
others, did at
that time oppose authoritative creeds,
and some articles in them as
terms of communion, and some other abuses, we
are not uninformed; but
so did some others who set out with him.
Our eagle-eyed
opponents plainly see the difference between
the radical and differential attributes of this reformation,
which they ignorantly call a deformation, and
any other cause, however unpopular,
plead in the land.
"The
Christians" in some places, nay, in many places, are
quite respectable in the eyes of those who contemn
"the disciples" as unfit for good society.
And I think the amiable editor of the
Christian Messenger himself told me last winter,
that even he and
some
of his brethren were considered by the orthodox as degrading
themselves because they associated with us
most "unworthy
disciples?'
Indeed,
it was no mean proof of his christian spirit to
see him so condescending to persons of such low
degree in the
estimation of the noble christians of the land. His
willingness to fraternize with us in despite
of the odium theologicum attached
to our ancient gospel, I must ever regard as an
additional
proof of his unfeigned regard to the authority of
Jesus as Lord, and
his love to all them who esteem the reproach of the
Messiah greater
riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
Historians should understand the difference between Mythological
History and True History.
Among the Greeks it was widely taught that rhetoricians,
poets and
music must not be permitted to write about true history. It
was ok to
lie about history when entertaining (only) but never in the
schools or
called assemblies (ekklesia).
THE
1832 UNITY MEETING J.F.BURNETT
Stone and the Disciples of Christ (Reformers then)
Morrill,
in "History of the Christian
Denomination," says: [6]
"The
'union' itself was consummated
on New Year's day, 1832, in Hill
Street
Christian Church, at Lexington,
Kentucky, where representatives of both parties pledged
themselves
'to one another before God, to abandon
all speculation, especially on the Trinity,
and kindred subjects, and to be content
with the plain declaration of
Scripture on those subjects on which there had been so
much worse
than useless controversy.'
The
plain meaning is that they found common
ground to occupy, threw away their divisive teachings
and opinions,
and acted as one. The men who at Lexington pledged
themselves there
and then gave one another the hand of fellowship,
speaking
for themselves, and the churches
they came from,
but not for all the churches or the
denominations in Kentucky or the
United States.
There
was no voting, and no attempt at formal union, but merely
a 'flowing together' of those like-minded.
In token of that union Elder John Smith, of the
Disciples of Christ,
and Elder John Rogers, of the Christians, 'were
appointed evangelists
by the churches' to promote that simple unsectarian
Christian work,
which was adhered to by thousands; and Stone took Elder
J. T.
Johnson, a Disciple, as co-editor of The
Christian Messenger.
"This
'union' did not change the status of any
name or church or minister or piece of property.
At a later time Campbell made some public invidious
remarks about the Christians, and it began to be
claimed that
they had joined or united with the Disciples. John
[7] Rogers says on this point:
'No
one ever thought (at the first)
that the Reformers, so-called, had come
over to us, or that we had
gone over to them; that they were required to
relinquish their
opinions, or we ours.
We
found ourselves contending for the same
great principles, and we resolved to unite our
energies to harmonize
the church and save the world. Such
are the simple facts in the
case."
The
Christian Messenger
(1832) says:
"It is
common for the Christians to
say, the Reformers have joined us--and no less
common is it for the
Reformers to say, the Christians have joined us.
One
will say, the Christians have
given up all their former opinions of many doctrines,
and have
received ours; another will say, the Reformers
have relinquished
their views on many points, and embraced ours.
These
things are doing mischief to the
cause of Christian union, and well calculated to excite
jealousy, and
to give offense. They can do no good--in fact they are
not true.
We have met together on the Bible, being drawn together
there by the
cords of truth--we agreed to walk together according to
this rule,
and to be united by the spirit of truth.
Neither
the Christians nor Reformers professed
to give up any sentiments or opinions previous
to our union, nor were
any required to be given up in order to effect it. We
all determined
to learn of Jesus, and to speak and do
whatsoever He says to us in His
Word. We all profess to be [8] called
Christians, being the followers and disciples of Jesus."
The
Campbells and most people at that time defined church as a
Society for study of the Word:
- Church
as defined by Christ in the wilderness and as Ekklesia
or Synagogue was A School of Christ.
- Worship
was
reading and musing the Word as is clearly defined by
Paul, Peter
and the pre-Constantine periood were singing as an ACT
was imposed in c
373 and split the west church from the east.
Any
additions would, as definitons demand, mark the imposers
as heretics or sectarians.
1837 Jenning, Walter W., Origin and Early
History of the
Disciples of Christ, p. 196, Standard
Although
union was not so easily brought about elsewhere as in
Kentucky, thousands of ''Christians" did join the Reformers.
After
referring to the union effected by Stone in
Jacksonville, M. T.
Morrill, the leading historian of the Christian
Connection, made the
following admission:
"Then
followed a wave of ' Campbellism ' that swept the
Christians
off their feet, and aggregated about eight thousand
accessions to the
Disciples. No Christian churches long survived in
Tennessee, their
cause was ruined in Kentucky and never has regained its
former strength
or prestige. Of the Southern Ohio Christians a majority
of the
preachers embraced Campbeism prior to 1837, and
only about one thousand
church members remained. A man named C. A. Eastman,
traveling through
Indiana about 1846, reported that, 'In many places they
[the
Christians] have amalgamated with the Disciples, and are
known only as
the same people.' Several years later it was reported
that on Stone's
account conferences of the Christians
had been dissolved and churches disbanded,
and the people had become amalgamated with the
Disciples."
1833
to 1841 and beyond Stoneites denied the Atonement
Barton W. Stone dened the
Atonement and Campbell debated him from 1833 onward:
why would there be UNITY between such important
"fundamentals>? The
Millennial Harbinger 1840-41 the debate still raged.
So be it, say I.
And what have I said, more than this? I have only said, in
the conclusion of my letter, "that, believing as I
do, that it was not possible, that any one of our
race could be saved without the sacrifice of the Lamb
of God, I must hold every attempt to explain it
away into a mere moral example, or display of love
without regard to justice, as tending to subvert the basis
of the divine government, and to rob the gospel of all
that glorifies the wisdom and power, the justice and mercy
of God in putting away sin, and in saving the sinner." It
is not, then, the degree of importance that my opinion
attaches to the death of Christ, either as it respects the
glory of God, or the salvation of man, in which we differ;
but about the express scriptural reasons of its
vast importance. And here, dear brother, permit me to
express, in my turn, my sincere regret, that having lifted
up your voice for a pure scriptural reformation,
predicated upon the Bible alone, you should ever have been
led off that divine platform into the arena of sectarian
controversies. MH.NumberVII.VIv.Aug.1833
1837
REPUDIATING THE DISCIPLES / CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
http://www.piney.com/AC.Lunenburg.Orig.html
It is reasonable to say that
all of the so-called
Stone-Campbell Movement are liars about this issue:
especially about
the
Lunenburg letters.
the lady from Lunenburg to write the editor of the Harbinger
is in an article entitled "Letters to England-No. 1," which
was
published in the June, 1837. We use the word liars
because people
pick what they want to write their own history and the goal
most often
is to driven non-instrumental churches into a guilt complex
for NOT
beginning to do what they had NEVER done.
They have never read the Lunenburg correspondence. To
Campbell
a "c"hristian was one who lived according to Christian
principles. We
speak of a "c"hristian nation. However, a "C"hristian is
ONLY one who
has obeyed the gospel.
I. With all despatch, then, I hasten
to show that I have neither
conceded nor surrendered any thing for which I
ever contended; but that
on the contrary, the opinion now expressed, whether true
or false, is
one that I have always avowed.
(Footnote in original reads: It is with us as old as
baptism for the remission of sins,
and this is at least as old as the "Christian Baptist."
Read the first two numbers of that work.)
1. Let me ask, in the first place, what could mean all
that we have written upon the union of Christians on
apostolic grounds,
had we taught that
all Christians in the world
were already
united in our own community?
2.
And in the second place, why should we so often have
quoted
and applied to apostate Christendom what the
Spirit saith to saints in
Babylon--"Come
out of her, my people, that you partake not of her sins,
and that you receive
not of her plagues"--
had we imagined that
the Lord had no people beyond the pale of our communion!
3. But let him that yet doubts, read the following
passages from the Christian Baptist, April, 1825:--
"I
have no idea of seeing, nor wish to see, the sects
unite in one grand army.
This would be dangerous to our liberties and laws.
For this the Saviour did not pray.
It is only the disciples
dispersed among them
that reason and
benevolence would call out of them,
"&c.
&c. This looks very like our present opinion of
Christians
among the sects!!! 2d ed. Bethany, p. 85.
4. Again, speaking of purity of speech in order to the
union of Christians, we say,
"None
of you [Christians] have ever yet attempted to show
how Christians can be united on your principles.
You have often showed how they may be divided,
and how each party may hold its own,
but while you pray
for the visible unity of the Disciples,
and advocate their
visible disunity, we cannot understand you." March, 1837,
vol. 4.
1839
IT appears from
the
"Union Herald" of the 9th instant, that the
Christian Union Convention, out of the proceedings of which
we made
large extracts in the two preceding numbers of the
Harbinger, held
its second meeting, according to the appointment of its
standing
committee, at Cazenovia, on the 30th of January; at which
time and
place, the Business Committee reported the following
resolutions:-
MILLENNIAL HARBINGER, VOLUME III.-----NUMBER III. BETHANY,
VA.
MARCH, 1839
THE "PATTERN" FOR UNITY AGREED WITH THE CHURCH OF
CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS AND MANY NETWTESTAMENT EXAMPLES;:
In 1839, from the "old brother, came an article on
"The Divine Order for Evangelizing the World, and for Teaching
the Evangelized How to Conduct Themselves." He
started with the Great Commission in Matthew, and urged
the necessity of teaching and preaching.
"Let the church then take up its Book and read and
study it. The proper character of the church is
the school of [175] Christ, disciples,
Christians. . . .
It must not shame its Master by its stupid,
wilful, shameful ignorance of his Book."
He
proposed for the Lord's Day a meeting of four hours,
beginning at ten o'clock and a half-hour intermission
between each two hours. An order of service is really
suggested which provides at the close for assignments
of study for the week and "a contribution of
something to the common stock for religious purposes, as
God has prospered him.
Matthew 28:18 And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me
in heaven and in earth.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore,
and teach all
nations,
baptizing them in
the name
of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: [Jesus Christ]
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever
I have commanded
you:
and, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
SO THAT PATTERN WILL NOT CHANGE
Jesus followed
the pattern as our example.
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up:
and, as his custom
was,
he went into the
synagogue on the sabbath day,
and stood up
for to read.
Acts 15:21 For Moses of old time hath in every city
them that preach
him,
being read
in the synagogues every sabbath day.
1Timothy 4:11 These things command and teach.
1Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou
an example of the believers,
in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in
purity.
1Timothy 4:13 Till I come, give attendance to
reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
1Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee,
which was given
thee by prophecy, [teaching]
with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery.
1Timothy 4:15 Meditate upon these things;
[speaking and meditating IN THE HEART]
give thyself
wholly to them;
that thy profiting
may appear to all.
1Timothy 4:16 Take heed unto thyself,
and unto the
doctrine; continue in them:
for in doing this
thou shalt both save thyself,
and them that hear
thee
Thomas Campbell:
"Some thirty years ago, when we addressed a portion of our
fellow Christians in western Pennsylvania upon this
all-important subject, we met with universal opposition
from the leaders of the people and were considered as the
disturbers of religious society; but now, blessed be God,
it is not only our privilege to bear of some hundreds of
thousands in the United States and elsewhere that have
been awakened, by means of our humble commencement, to
advocate this blessed cause, upon pure scriptural
principles of primitive, apostolic Christianity;
but that also now, at length, there is a voluntary
movement in different parts of the camp, beyond the bounds
of our co-operative agency in favor of this
blessed cause, the cause of union in truth amongst all
the friends of truth and peace throughout all the
churches, for this was the sacred design and
motto of our commencement."
"Second, as to
the propositions adopted by the convention, they,
appear too indefinite, and, of course, have a
tendency to produce difficulties,
Thomas Campbell defined
union thusly: [The Millennial Harbinger (March 1839):
134-144.]
5.
That with respect to the commands and ordinances
of our Lord
Jesus Christ,
where the scriptures are silent as to the express
time
or manner of performance, if any such there be;
no human authority
has power to interfere, in order to supply the supposed
deficiency,
by making laws for the church;
nor can any thing more be required of
Christians in such cases, but only that they so observe
these commands and ordinances, as will
evidently answer the declared and
obvious end of their institution.
Much less has any human authority power to impose new commands or
ordinances upon the church,
which our
Lord Jesus Christ has not enjoined.
Nothing ought to be received into
the faith or worship of the church, or be made a term of
communion
amongst Christians, that is not as old as the New
Testament.
"13.
Lastly, that if any circumstantials
indispensably
necessary
to
the observance of divine ordinances
be not found upon
the page
of express revelation,
such, and such
only as are absolutely necessary
for this purpose,
should be adopted,
under the title of human expedients,
without any
pretence to a more sacred origin--so that any
subsequent alteration or difference
in the observance
of these things
might produce no contention nor division in the church."
That, of course, appears
throughout the Church
historians and is common decency since Restoration meant
removing
anything not required to be A School of Christ. Neither
Campbell would
have "unioned" with any group which ignored the purpose of
the assembly
and who IMPOSED something in order to SUPPLY
the
supposed deficiency. That has nothing to do with the "law of
silence"
or "traditions" or decisions of church councils which are
owned by what
became the Disciples-Christian churches.
THE
MILLERITE CONNECTION: The Society was to make it
POSSIBLE for Jesus to return!
William J. Nottingham Global
Ministries.
"My point here is that the first
missionary
society
was the product of a long and intense process which
generated
considerable soul-searching. There were shared
biblical principles and
at the same time fundamental differences in theological
opinion.
Disagreement grew
concerning congregational ecclesiology,
commonality in mission with
other Christians,
and also perhaps communion of
the Holy Spirit.
This tension would eventuate in separate bodies and
institutions
of the 20th and 21st centuries. [Disciples
and NACC] A full
appreciation is probably hidden from us in the distance
from
ante-bellum times. But the nature of the Bible's
authority,
the relatively new idea of the autonomy
of
the local congregation,
and the centrality of
millennialist eschatology
for these men and women,
with
men doing most of the writing which is left to us, seem
to me to be
mysteries that can only be observed from different
angles and rarely
entered into existentially by later generations like our
own.
This is evidenced in the decisions concerning
missionaries growing
out of this fervor leading up to the Cincinnati
convention:
Dr. and Mrs. James T. Barclay were the first. It was in
their parlor in
Washington, D.C., 1843, that the congregation
had been organized which
became the Vermont Avenue Church and in 1930 the
National City
Christian Church.
They went to Jerusalem, not because of Acts 1:8
"beginning with
Jerusalem" as a popular Disciples legend has it, but
because it was taken for granted by
Alexander Campbell and his
followers that the Jews were to be converted before
the return of
Christ.
RICHARD HUGES
MAKES THIS FALSE ASSUMPTION
That was a false assumption: the Millenial Harbinger's
major thrust was not to SUPPORT Millerism but to
defeat it.
Campbell denies that Jesus will return to Canaan.
Because the
Church
of Christ did not believe in William E. Miller [Ellen G.
White].
You
will notice that it was the Disciples who were tilted by
Miller.
The
title of Campbell's journal proclaimed clearly the
eschatology of the
pre-Civil War spirituality, so neglected in our
denominational memory
by scholars and theologians since then.
Notice that Campbell spoke of THE PROTESTANT THEORY:
not his because he speaks where the Bible speaks and
insists on a NEW
HEAVEN and a NEW EARTH and that you could not convert
people after the
literal earth was burned up.
In the Millennial Harbinger of
1841,
we read in
what is called The
Protestant Theory:
"The
Millennium, so far as the triumphs of Christianity is
concerned, will
be a state of greatly enlarged and continuous
prosperity, in which the
Lord will be exalted and his divine spirit enjoyed in
an unprecedented
measure. All the conditions of society will be vastly
improved; wars
shall cease, and peace and good will among men will
generally abound.
The Jews will be converted, and the fullness of the
Gentiles will be
brought into the kingdom of the Messiah."
THIS WAS NOT CAMPBELL'S VIEW AND THEREFORE THE
FOSTER VIEWS HAVE NO FOUNDATION.
The founding of the
American Christian Missionary Society cannot be
separated from the millennialist eschatology of the
period
See
Alexander Campbell on the Second Coming to prove that
you never believe "the doctors of the Law."
This takes careful reading to grasp that Campbell
REPUDIATES any speculation.
The Disciples
followed the Millerites: not Campbell.
nor from the pragmatism
which
required a foreign dimension to
keep pace with other denominations
or to outgrow them! D.S. Burnet's book
The Jerusalem Mission and Dr. Barclay's book The
City of the Great King make this clear, along with
speeches and
articles by various leaders like Isaac Errett. Barclay
wrote in a
journal The Christian Age:
"The ACMS...resolved...
to make the first offer of
salvation to Israel.
.
.
for the salvation of the Jews...
for upon the conversion and
resumption of Israel
1845
The Restoration Movement History: John
T. Brown in his history of "Churches of Christ," p.
153, says:
"David
S. Burnet was the father of organized cooperative
work among the disciples of Christ. He
crystallized the sentiment for cooperation. He was the
leader of leaders, who, more than any other man, advocated
the adoption of the plan of cooperation, which has grown
to its present power and usefulness among our people.
Afterward, in looking over his life-work, he said: "I
consider the inauguration of the society system, which I
vowed to urge upon the brethren if God raised me up from
my protracted illness of 1845, was one of the
most important acts of my career." He was indeed the
leader of the leaders in the work of organization and
formation of the American Christian Missionary Society.
So, according to David S. Burnet, "the
father of organized, cooperative work among the disciples
of Christ," the resolution to urge the society on the
Brethren originated in the sickroom in 1845, in
the mind of David S. Burnet, but was not put into
execution until four years later, 1849.
RETROSPECTIVE
ACCOUNTS
While
there was never a "union" in 1832 at least many groups
including the Reformed Baptists could have fraternal
relationships because at yet no one had been so daring as to
introduce instruments.
http://www.piney.com/Unity.Boles.html
In
1849, the first major departure was made. David
S. Burnet was the father of the Missionary
Society;
it was organized in 1849.
David S. Burnet was a convert from the Baptist
Church
and he brought the idea of the Missionary Society with him
from the
Baptist Church. "He was brought up as a Presbyterian but
at sixteen
years of age, after careful study of the New Testament,
was baptized
into the Baptist Church." ("The Story of
the Churches." by Errett
Gates, p. 190.) He said, "I was born into the
missionary spirit, and
did not relinquish it when I associated myself with my
present
brethren." (Christian Magazine, Vol. 3, p.
173.
Notice
Nottingham's reason why these groups were never
"unioned" because you cannot "union" congregational
churches. This also
shows that Foster twisted the "apocylptic" claim
for Alexander
Campbell. That is because he did not care enough to read
the original
documents. Historians daisy chain and quoting A BOOK is
never
scholarship. Of course they are all defined by John as
ANTICHRIST by
their neo-trinity dogma.
Church "scholars" are really a laughing stock and they
write
only for other "scholars" totally missing Jesus who said
that "doctors
of the law take away the key to knowledge."
I don't write history: I post the actual documents the
RECONSTRUCTIONISTS lie about seing godliness as a means of
financial
gain--occupation. Don't be a cultist: never trust anyone
who quotes
Mark 1.1 and does not post the text in context.
ALL
religious
groups rejected musical instruments because of the
persona of
musicians and the fact that a disciple fully
understands that
instruments always mark those who refuse to hear the
Words of God.
John
Calvin on Instruments clearly understood and
observed by presbyterians.
Does
any one
object, that music is very useful for awakening the
minds of men and
moving their hearts? I own it;
but
we should
always take care that no corruption creep in, which
might both defile
the pure worship
of God and
involve men
in superstition. Moreover, since the
Holy Spirit
expressly warns us of this danger by the mouth of
Paul,
to
proceed beyond what we are there warranted by him is not only, I must
say, unadvised zeal, but
wicked and perverse
obstinacy.
Again,
Calvin notes that: "We
know that our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared, and by His
advent has abolished these legal
shadows.
Instrumental
music, we
therefore maintain, was only tolerated on account of
the times and
the people, because
they were as boys,
as the sacred Scripture speaketh, whose condition
required these puerile rudiments.
But
in gospel times
we must not have recourse to these unless we wish to
destroy the
evangelical perfection and to obscure the meridian
light which we
enjoy in Christ our Lord." (Calvin's Commentary on the
Thirty-third
Psalm, and on 1 Sam. 18:1-9).
"Unto the pure all
things
are pure:
but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is
nothing pure; but
even their mind and conscience is defiled" (Tit.
1: 15.)
For why is a
woe pronounced
upon the rich who have received their consolation? (Luke
6: 24,) who
are full, who
laugh now, who
"lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves
upon their couches;" "join house to house," and "lay
field to field;"
"and the harp
and the viol,
the tabret
and pipe,
and wine,
are in their
feasts," (Amos 6: 6; Isa. 5: 8, 10.)
Certainly ivory and
gold, and riches, are the
good creatures of God, permitted, nay destined, by
divine providence
for the use of man; nor was it ever forbidden to laugh,
or to be full,
or
to add new
to old
and hereditary possessions, or to be
delighted with music,
or to drink wine.
This is true, but when
the means are
supplied to roll
and wallow in luxury, to intoxicate
the mind and
soul with present and be always
hunting
after new pleasures,
The Necessity of Reforming the Church (1543) Calvin wrote
For,
if we would not
throw everything into
confusion,
we must never lose sight of the distinction
between the old and the
new
dispensations, and of
the
fact that ceremonies, the
observance of which was useful under the law,
are now not only
superfluous, but vicious and absurd.
But
in regard to the former, it
is plain that
they
are destitute of authority from the
scriptures,
as well as of any approved
example of
such
intercession;
while, as to the latter,
Paul
declares
that
none can invoke
God,
save those who
have been taught
by his
word to pray.
On this
depends the confidence with which it becomes pious
minds to be
actuated and imbued when they engage in prayer.
The instruments were
tolerated because God had already turned them
over to worship the starry host and sentenced them back to
captivity
and death.
WEST: "Apostasy
in music among 19th
century
churches that had endeavored to
restore New Testament authority in worship and work
began,
in the main, following the American Civil War'
In 1868,
Ben Franklin guessed that there were ten thousand
congregations
and not over fifty had used an instrument
in worship." (Earl West,
Search for the Ancient Order, Vol. 2, pp. 80, 81)
Following
the
American
Civil War "Staunch
supporters of the missionary
society and instrumental
music, the new look in styles
of
work and worship, had been predicting
for years the early demise of
the Advocate. It was unthinkable, as
these men viewed the problem,
that even the people
in the South
would not want to keep
up with the times.
Lipscomb's simple ways might
have been condoned in the hills
of Franklin County before
the war,
but
the times were passing
him by. It was only a
question of time until the Advocate would fold
up, and when it did,
as these men gleefully
envisioned, it would be
a happy day." (Earl West, Life and Times of David
Lipscomb, p.
166)
At
the end of Alexander
Campbell's life the missionary society had grasped rights
to
Campbell's song book. Campbell believed that he was
putting the
ownership into the hands of a committee of brethren.
"Isaac
Errett who
influenced Campbell to sign over (extorted?) his
copyright, had
argued that it
was absolutely
necessary
to the
unity of the church to have unity of worship,
and the latter could not be
maintained
unless the
brethren all
used one hymn book--Campbell's.
Accordingly,
the
Standard
and the
Society opposed
vigorously the publication of any other hymn book.
Lipscomb by
selling a hymn book printed in Canada had been visited
by some of the ire of these
men." (West,
p. 171)
1851 Early
in 1851, J. Henshall was asked by a man who said "we are far
in the rear of Protestants" whether "instrumental music in our
churches" would consummate "the great object of Psalmody." He
replied that the worldly minded might seek such "helps to
their
devotion," but true spiritual worship had no place for an
entertaining display, a choir, and "a wooden devotion
quickener." This opened
discussion in the Ecclesiastic Reformer for a short time. John
Rogers, in astonishment that any preacher would defend the
instrument,
wrote to Alexander Campbell, who called upon all preachers to
"cry aloud and spare not" in opposing the practice. Campbell
shortly
added that "the argument drawn from the Psalms in favor of
instrumental music" befits Catholic and Protestant churches
which seek
"the Jewish pattern of things" to stir their carnal hearts.
(8)
The 1850s saw precious little advance in the instrument cause;
almost no one
favored it. "It is scarcely necessary for us to say to our
readers that we regard the organ and violin worship, and even
the fashionable
choir singing of our country, as mockery of all that is
sacred," said Tolbert Fanning in the 1856 Gospel Advocate.
(9)
The next flare-up
revealed that fifty years after Thomas Campbell's Declaration
and Address (1809), Dr. L. L. Pinkerton had placed a melodeon
in the
church at Midway, Kentucky. Answering a question in January
1860, Benjamin Franklin mused that a church without the Spirit
of
Christ might need an instrument for amusement and
entertainment in place of religion and worship. This stung
Pinkerton because he was
the only church known to be using one. Offering the aid
argument, he said the singing had been so bad as to "scare
even the rats from
worship." Practice sessions with its use had been followed by
use in regular worship.
(10)
8. Henshall, "Instrumental
Music In Churches," Ecclesiastic Reformer, Vol. 4 (15
March 1851):171; Rogers, "Dancing"; Campbell,
"Dancing" and "Instrumental Music," Millennial Harbinger
(September and October, 1851):503-507 and 581-582.
9. On p. 199, quoted in John
T. Lewis, The Voice of the Pioneers on Instrumental
Music and Societies (Nashville: Tennessee: Gospel
Advocate Co., 1932), p. 120.
10. Franklin and Pinkerton
articles entitled "Instrumental Music in Churches,"
American Christian Review, Vol. 3 (31 January and 28
February -1860):19, 34. See Earl West, The Search For
The Ancient Order, 3 Volumes (Nashville: Tennessee:
Gospel Advocate Co.,
1949; Indainapolis, Indiana: Religious Book Service,
1950, 1979), 1: 310-312.
1859 Restoration
Movement Boles:
A second departure was the introduction of
instrumental music in the worship. This began about 1859. It
was not introduced because it was found in the New
Testament; neither were those who introduced it in the
worship guided by the New Testament. But few have been bold
enough to attempt to prove that the New Testament authorizes
the use of instrumental music in worship. Many have claimed
on other grounds that they have a right to use instrumental
music in worship, but the point made here is that no one,
guided by the New Testament, introduced the organ into the
worship. Errett Gates, in his history referred to above, p.
250, says:
"The organ controversy was
the missionary controversy in a new form,
for both grew out of the
opposition to human innovations in the work and worship of
the church ...
The
organ party treated it as a question of
expediency on which there should be forbearance and liberty.
The antiparty treated it as a matter of principle."
The arguments now used to justify the use of instrumental
music in worship are "after-thoughts" and were not
used when the instrument or organ was first imposed on the
brotherhood.
Jennings.Source.Stoneitesp312.gif
1860
The Organ: The
Christian Repository. Hickman Creek
To accuse
non-instrumental churches for being sectarians ignores the
recorded history of contemporaneous battles among ALL
religious groups.
They
were men of sincere piety and fervent zeal, but governed
in manners and in preaching by laws of their own. Unlike
the gowned clergy of our day these primitive preachers of
the wilderness were accustomed, on a hot summer's day, to
take off their coats and preach in the shirt sleeves
a very convenient habit for those who toiled coatless all
the week. Unlike the drilled theatrical disclaimers of the
modern pulpit, who read their sermons, these
earnest, unsophisticated heralds of the gospel, with no
teacher of elocution but the promptings of their own
pathetic voices, sung their sermons. Like their
illustrious ancestor with the leathern girdle, their voice
was heard "crying in the wilderness."
Vulgar and ludicrous as the habit may seem to the eyes of
learned criticism, this sing song preaching had
its attractions. Congregations would set [sic] from
three to five hours, on backless benches, and listen
to sermon after sermon sung off in this way, without
complaining. But the congregation of this refined age, who
sit on cushioned seats, with cushioned backs, and
cushioned foot-stools, and listen to sermons enriched by
the best creations of intellect and genius, set off with
all the improved arts of voice and gesture, and
all the witchery of rhetoric, complain dreadfully
if they are kept more than forty-five minutes. There must
be a difference somewhere, either in the essence and
manner of preaching, or in the taste and instincts of the
hearers. After all it is a question whether singing
the gospel is not as apostolic and efficient as reading
it; whether the one did not make as many converts in that
day, as the other makes in this age.
It was at this meeting-house, and under this preaching,
when a small boy, I got my first ideas of divine worship,
and of Jesus Christ as a Saviour for sinners. And this
fact may account for some notions that cling to me at the
present time. The first pastor I remember to have met and
heard at Hickman Creek was a tall, gray-headed gentleman
by the name of Durham. It was under the ministry of
this aged servant of God I first witnessed the
exhibition of instrumental church music. It was very
simple and primitive in its order. The instrument was not
an organ, nor melodeon, nor violin, nor flute, nor drum,
nor horn. It was a cheap and portable concern, that the
pastor carried in his pocket, which at the proper tune he
played himself, thereby saving the expense of a salaried
performer.
When the hymn was announced Father Durham drew from his pocket
a lady's tucking comb, to one
side of which a piece of brown paper had been adjusted.
While the congregation struck the air of the tune, he sung
the same notes through the comb, which being reflected by
the paper, and broken into diverging and crossing volumes
by the intervening teeth, produced a monstrous jingle of
sounds, that supplied the place of bass, treble, alto, and
all the imaginary notes. Whether scientific or not, the
primitive church instrument sent out a novel clatter
of sounds, which to my uneducated ear seemed
wonderfully melodious.
Little did I dream at that time of living to be a grown-up
man; of being transported from those native hills and
dropped down among cities; to tread the threshold of
majestic Gothic temples, and see the tucking comb
transferred from the preacher's pocket to a spacious room
in the gallery, and expanded into the beauty and grandeur
of the church organ, with its thundering sounds.
I will not undertake to give an opinion as to the
comparative merits of the various instruments of church
music. Let those who believe in instruments do
this, if they choose. After some years of experience I
decidedly prefer congregational singing to all the
instruments in the world. Some might attribute this to
erroneous education, or the lack of education. Be this as
it may, I would rather listen, especially on the Sabbath,
to some forty or fifty clear toned human voices
1866
Moses Lard Lard's Quarterly [Volume III: April,
1866]
Until after the UNcivil war the concensus of all of the
people who
flowed into either the Christian Churches or Reformers, no
one believed
in nor would tolerate the use of instruments in what Christ
and the
Campbells called A School of Christ. Alexander Campbell was
quite happy
as a Reformed Baptists because they did not divide over
instruments
until around the turn of the decade. However, it was
the Baptists
who proposed to excommunicate Campbell because he taught
that "baptism
for the remission of sins" meant "baptism for the remission
of sins..
While there was never any organic "union" it was possible
for people of
most groups to join with others in what they called
"worship."
Unity of heart and soul was created by Jesus Christ before a
clergy
system usurped the role of elders and deacons as the
Pastor-Teachers of
the flock pledged to teach that which had been taught.
But
the Church of Christ in halves, or a divided body of
Christ,
is impossible. The moment the church is so divided
the one part becomes an apostasy,
the other remains the church.
Suppose
the division to have its origin in some doctrinal
question. In what light, then, should it be viewed, and
how disposed
of? Of course, in that case the first question raised
would be:
Is the doctrine clearly taught in the word of
God. If clearly taught in the word of God,
the case admits of
a very simple solution.
The
party rejecting the doctrine would stand, on
that
ground, and for that reason alone, condemned;
while the party
accepting, would have to be held as no
party, but as the church.
But
suppose the doctrine not to be clearly taught, or
suppose it to admit of a reasonable doubt whether
it is taught
or not, how, then, should we proceed?
In that case the difference should be regarded as
a difference of opinion, and hence should be made
no test of
soundness in the faith, or of fellowship.
Here, if
brethren were possessed of even the most ordinary
share of love, the difference would either
permanently rest or permanently end.
But if one of the differing parties should
persist in an effort to force its opinion on
the
other,
or should dogmatically require subscription thereto,
or should make it any such test as has just been named,
then such party would have to be regarded as
having
become heretical, and would have to be repudiated.
The other party would have to be held as
the church
1867 Dr.H.Christopher.Instrumental.Music.html
1868
Following the Civil War, instrumental
music in worship began to be introduced first in a few,
then in more and more of the churches in the restoration
movement. With the introduction of the instrument also
came the resistance and controversy, which its opponents
readily provided.
A statement more insightful than the
words of J.W. McGarvey in 1868, regarding the coming
controversy, would be difficult to find. In response to
A.S. Hayden’s attempted justification of its use as an
expression of expediency and progress,
McGarvey stated: “you know that such are the convictions
of a very large number of the best and most intelligent
class of your brethren, that they will resist to the very
last extremity the introduction of instrumental music in
the worship, and that they will never, while they live,
permit it to rest anywhere in peace” (p. 217).
The following years evidence the
accuracy of McGarvey’s 1868 evaluation and
forecast. Churches in various cities and towns experienced
the introduction, resistance, and resultant controversy;
various periodicals mirrored the widening discussions and
consequently sharpening debates; church records documented
the pattern of introduction, use, resistance,
controversy, hardening of support and opposition, and
ultimately division when the offending wedge was not
withdrawn. And so the history unfolded
BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN 1877
7.
"Well, the churches
generally are going into it, and it is 'a
foregone conclusion that
they will have and use the organ,' and it is useless
to stand against
it."
No "the churches
generally" are not gone into it, nor are they
going that way.
We do not know the
number of churches in the United
States;
but doubt not that six
thousand would be a
low enough
estimate.
How
many
of them
use the organ in worship? We do not know this
with certainty, but
probably not more than from [431] one
hundred
and fifty to
two hundred, and
certainly not five hundred. [1877]
The
organ party is yet small,
and would amount to but little, had it not found way
into
a few
places of note
and prominence. There are still whole
States that have not an organ
in the Church.
We
think there is not one in use in Canada,
not one in Virginia, Tennessee, nor Texas,
that we have heard of; scarcely any in Kentucky, West
Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and many other States.
The organ is
still the exception, not the rule; and the party
is small.
The main
body are true to the great principles of
reformation--to the divine
purpose of returning to and maintaining, the original
practice in all
things.
1883
Nashville
Choate/Woodson
note
that like
David Lipscomb, E. G. Sewell worked for the Gospel
Advocate to earn
a living
and
preached
for the Woodland Street Church in
Nashville. He received little for his preaching. A new
building was
constructed in 1880 and Sewell was asked to preach
there longer and
devote more time.
As well funded
by the Standard
"From
the North, where the Society
system was deeply imbedded in the
churches, people moved into Nashville
and many filled the Woodland Street
church. By the end of 1882, a woman
from Kentucky asked Sewell about forming an auxiliary society to the Christian Woman's Board
of Missions. Sewel
objected, and gave his reasons.
But as
always, when a group in
a congregation wants something, and the preacher
stands in their way,
there is only one thing to do: dismiss
the preacher. Sewell was ousted and at the
beginning of 1883, W. J.
Loos, son of
C. L. Loos, president of the Foreign
Society, was hired.
In the fall
of that year young Loos
attended the annual convention at Cincinatti, telling them with some embarassment
that he was
ashamed to admit he
was
from Tennessee for the churches of his state were doing
nothing."
When
he
returned,
Sewell refuted the false charges about Tennessee
churches. Loos was check-mated and was replaced
later by R. M.
Giddens who "fanned the
flames of Societyism."
"The women were soon busily at
work to form an auxiliary
society. Sewell's pleas to Giddens went
unheeded. During the
following summer,
the women
wrote
letters to the
churches of the state
asking funds be sent
to
them
so they
could hire a
State Evangelist. Before long, plans
were laid
to
secure the services of A.
I. Myhr.
"Lipscomb
had
agreed to publish
information in the Advocate after being assured
that evangelism was
the goal. However, Giddens failed to get the
work under the Woodland
Street elders. J. C. McQuiddy who had helped raise the
money and Sewell who was an
elder were not
consulted about Myhr.
Myhr
made his goals clear about promoting
the Society
and Instrumental music
even though it would divide the
churches. Myhr's goal,
Lipscome believed, was to
"ostracize, boycott, and
starve every preacher that does not APPROVE the
society."
1885
THE RISE OF CORRUPTERS OF THE WORD SELLING LEARNING AT
RETAIL.
Without
denying support for Evangelists Campbell warned about
the mercinary
clergy, the dominant pastor was and is divisive and the
only way that
the NACC has helped any churches of Christ impose
instruments.
"The
pastor is not
a necessity. He is a FUNGUS
GROWTH
upon the church,
the body of Christians, DWARFING its
growth, PREVENTING
its
development of its members; and until the church GETS
RID of him it
will NEVER prosper as it should. In the Bible we can
find all the
necessities.
"I can
testify from my own
observation that a good eldership will lose its
efficiency, and its
members become both UNABLE and UNWILLING to do the work
of elders, in
a very few years after the employment of a pastor. And
if under the
pastor system a good eldership has ever developed, I
have never seen
or heard of the case. I don't believe that has or ever
will be done."
--James A. Harding,
Gospel Advocate, May 20, 1885
Preaching
for pay? "Give money to make poor pious
youths learned clergy, or vain
pretenders to
erudition; and they pray
that they may preach to you; yes, and pay them too.
Was
there ever such a craft as priestcraft? No, it is the craftiest of all crafts.
It is so crafty that it obtains by its craft the
means to make
craftsmen, and then it makes the deluded support them!" (Campbell,
Alexander,
Christian
Baptist, Dec. 1,
1823,
Vol. 1, p. 91).
Wonder why the
Stone-Campbell Sectarians never use that?
"Those
who
lord it over the
people will soon begin to destroy Them. The word
Balaam means 'the
destroyer of the people.' If we turn back to the
history of this
strange figure as recorded in the book of Numbers we
find that which
clarifies three passages in the New Testament where
'the error of
Balaam' (Jude 11), 'the way of Balaam' (II Pet. 2:15)
and 'the
doctrine of Balaam' are discussed." (Barnhouse, D.G.,
Revelation,
Zondervan, p. 54
See
John Calvin on the need for a Restoration Movement
excluding
professional preachers.
These
are Paul's words. Let
them, then, show us that they are ministers of the gospel,
and I will have no difficulty in conceding their
right to stipend.
The
ox must not be muzzled that treadeth out the corn [1 Cor. 9:9].
But is it not altogether at
variance with reason that the ploughing oxen should starve, and the lazy asses be fed?
They
will
say, however, that
they serve at the altar.
I answer, that the priests under the law deserved maintenance, by ministering at an
altar;
but
that,
as Paul
declares, the case under the New Testament is different. And what are those
altar services, for which they
allege that maintenance is due to them?
Forsooth,
that
they may perform
their masses
and chant
in churches, for example, partly labor to no
purpose, and partly perpetrate
sacrilege,
thereby
provoking the anger of God. See for what it is
that they are alimented at the public expense!
Aeschines Against Ctesiphon
3.[220] And you
blame me if
I come before the
people, not constantly, but only at intervals.
And you imagine that
your bearers fail to detect you in
thus making a demand which is no
outgrowth of democracy, but borrowed from another form
of government.
For in oligarchies it is not he who wishes, but he who is
in
authority, that addresses the people;
whereas in
democracies he speaks who chooses,
and whenever it
seems to him good.
And the fact
that a man speaks only at intervals marks him as a man who
takes part
in politics because of the call of the hour, and for
the common good;
whereas to leave no
day without its speech,
is the mark of a man
who
is making a trade of it, and talking for pay.
2
A quiet citizen, as distinguished from the professional
political blackmailer,su_kophant-ēs
Pl. Cur.
2.3 And then those Grecians
with their cloaks, who walk about with covered heads,
who go loaded
beneath their cloaks with books, and with baskets6,
they loiter together, and engage in gossipping among
themselves, the
gad-abouts
6 With
baskets:
In the "sportule," or "baskets," the poor, and the parasitical
dependants on the rich, carried away the scraps that
were given to them
after an entertainment was concluded.
Amos 8:1
Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me: and behold a
basket of summer fruit.
Amos 8:2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I
said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the
LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of
Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.
basket
from H3611 keleb keh'-leb From an unused root
meaning to yelp, or else
to attack; a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male
prostitute:—dog.
Revelation 22:13 I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in
through the gates
into the city.
Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and
sorcerers, and whoremongers,
and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth
and maketh a lie.
Revelation
22.15 exō hoi kunes kai hoi pharmakoi kai hoi pornoi kai hoi phoneis kai hoi eidōlolatrai kai pas philōn kai poiōn pseudos.
Revelation 22:16 I
Jesus have sent mine angel to
testify unto you these things in the churches. I am
the root and the
offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Pornos , ho, A. catamite,
Ar.Pl.155,
X.Mem.1.6.13,
D.22.73,
II. Idolater,
Suid.
Xen.
Mem. 1.6.13 So is it with wisdom.
Those who offer it to all comers for money are
known as sophists, prostitutors of
wisdom,
but we think
that he who
makes a friend of one whom he knows to be gifted
by nature, and teaches
him all the good he can, fulfils the duty of a
citizen and a gentleman.
Sophis-tēs
, master of one's craft, experts, poets,
musicians, harpists, "making melody in holy
places." a Sophist, i.e. one
who gave lessons in grammar, rhetoric,
politics, mathematics, for money,
3. later of the rhētores, Professors
of Rhetoric, and prose writers “Apollōnidē sophistē”
2Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt
the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
G2585 kapēleuō kap-ale-yoo'-o From κάπηλος kapēlos
(a huckster); to retail, that is, (by implication)
to adulterate (figuratively):—corrupt.
ka^pēl-euō ,
1) to be a
retailer, to peddle
2) to make
money by selling anything
a) to get
sordid gain by dealing in anything, to do a thing
for base gain
b) to trade in
the word of God
1) to try to
get base gain by teaching divine truth
c) to corrupt,
to adulterate
1) peddlers
were in the habit of adulterating their
commodities for the sake of gain
k. tēs hōras anthos or tēn hōran, of
prostitutes
Instead of killing all of the people of Lydians,
croesus advised:
Hdt.
1.155 [3]
“O King, what you say is
reasonable. But do not ever yield to anger, or
destroy an ancient city
that is innocent both of the former and of the
present offense. For the
former I am responsible, and bear the punishment
on my head; while
Pactyes, in whose charge you left Sardis,
does this present wrong; let him, then, pay the
penalty.
Grant,
then, forgiveness to the
Lydians, and to make
sure of their never rebelling against thee, or alarming thee more,
send and forbid
them to keep any
weapons of war,
command
them to
wear
tunics under
their
cloaks, and to put buskins upon their legs,
..........and make them bring up their sons to cithern-playing (Kitharizein), singing
(psallein), and shop-keeping (Hucksterism).
So
wilt thou soon see them become women instead of
men,
and there will be no more fear
of their revolting from thee."
-[4]
Ludoisi
de
sungnômên echôn tade autoisi epitaxon, hôs
mête aposteôsi mête deinoi toi eôsi: apeipe
men sphi pempsas hopla arêia mê ektêsthai,
keleue
de spheas kithônas -[khiton
David's garment] te hupodunein toisi
heimasi kai
kothornous hupodeesthai, proeipe d' autoisi
-kitharizein te kai psallein kai kapêleuein [prostitutes, petty
trade, playing tricks,
corrupting] paideuein tous paidas. kai
tacheôs spheas ô
basileu gunaikas ant' andrôn opseai
gegonotas, hôste
ouden deinoi toi esontai mê aposteôsi."
The
word kitharizo means to
PLAY THE CITHARA and does not include singing.
- -Kitharizô 1 [kitharis] to play the
cithara, phormingi [Apollo]
kitharize Il., Hes.; lurêi eraton
kitharizôn Hhymn.
(so that there can have been no great
difference between the kithara,
lura, and phorminx ); kitharizein ouk
epistatai, of an uneducated
person,
-
-Kithar-isis , eôs, hê, playing on the
cithara, Pl.Prt.325e; k. psilê,
i.e. without the voice,
Id.Lg.669e, cf. Pae.Delph.15; aulêsis
kai k. Phld.Mus.p.23 K.
-Arassô ,of any violent impact, with collat. notion of rattling, clanging, as of horses, hoplais, pound in a mortar, strike with a shower of stones.
a). kitharēn strike
the lyre, Orph.A.382;
humnon, melos, etc., Nonn.D.1.15,440,
etc.
2. c. dat.
modi, arassein tina oneidesi, kakois, assail with reproaches or threats,
II.
Pass., to
be dashed against, dash one against the other
Pound in a mortar, “holmō a.” Nic. Th.508
Used by O.E.Payne to
justify PSALLO as a command [p.106
7
The gad-abouts: Drapetæ. From the
Greek dremō,
"to run." He probably alludes to the propensities of
the Athenians for gossipping and running
about from place to place. Probably, at the time
of Plautus, they had begun in considerable numbers
to resort to Rome.
By his reference to the books, he is,
perhaps, more particularly
alluding to their Philosophers. The Romans
considered it effeminate in
civil life to go with the head covered.
su_kophant-ēs
became notorious as pettifoggers, blackmailers, professional
swindler or confidential agent,
kolax , a^kos, ho,
2. in later Gr., = Att. goēs, Moer. p.113 P.
II. lisping pronunciation of korax, Ar.V.45.
goēs , ētos, ho, A. sorcerer,
wizard, Phoronis g. epōdos Ludias apo khthonos” E.Ba.234,
cf. Hipp.1038;
prob. f.l. for boēsi Hdt.7.191.
2.
juggler, cheat, “deinos g. kai pharmakeus kai sophistēs” Pl.Smp.203d;
“deinon kai g. kai sophistēn . . onomazōn” D.18.276;
“apistos g. ponēros” Id.19.109;
“magos kai g.” Aeschin.3.137:
Comp. “goētoteros” Ach.Tat.6.7
Sophis-tēs ,
ou, ho, A. master
of one's craft, adept, expert, of diviners,
of musicians, “sophistēs . . parapaiōn khelun” [harp]
with modal words added, “hoi s. tōn hierōn melōn” Ael.NA11.1;
Ael.
NA 11.1
anthrōpōn Hupeboreōn genos kai timas Apollōnos
tas ekeithi hadousi men poiētai, humnousi de kai suggrapheis,
en de tois kai Hekataios, oukh ho Milēsios, all' ho Abdēritēs. ha de legei polla te kai semna hetera,
melōdountes, alla hōsper oun ek tou khorolektou to endosimon labontes kai tois sophistais tōn hierōn melōn tois epikhōriois sunasantes. eita tou humnou telesthentos hoi de anakhōrousi tē pros ton daimona
Clement
of Alexandria, Stromata I
But
he that
speaks through books,
consecrates himself before God, crying
in writing thus:
Not
for gain, not for vainglory, not to be vanquished
by partiality, nor enslaved by
fear nor elated
by
pleasure;
but only to reap
the
salvation of
those who read, which he does,
not
at present
participate in,
but awaiting in
expectation
the recompense
which
will certainly be rendered by Him, who has
promised to bestow on the
labourers the reward that is meet.
But
he who
is enrolled in
the number of men [Ps. li. 7-12.] ought
not to desire
recompense.
For
he that vaunts his good services, receives glory as his
reward.
And he who does any duty
for the sake of
recompense, is
he not
held fast in the custom of the world, either as
one who has done
well, hastening to receive a reward, or as an
evil-doer avoiding
retribution?
We
must, as far as we can,
imitate the Lord. I And he will do so, who complies
with the will of
God,
receiving
freely,
giving
freely, and
receiving
as a worthy reward the citizenship itself.
"The
hire
of an harlot shall not come into the
sanctuary," it
is said: accordingly it was forbidden to bring
to the altar the price of a dog.
(male
prostitute)
And
in whomsoever the eye of
the soul has been blinded by ill-nurture and
teaching, let him
advance to the true light, to the truth,
which
shows
by writing the things that are
unwritten. "Ye that
thirst, go to
the
waters,"
[Isa. lv. 1]
says Esaias, And "drink water from thine own
vessels," [Prov. v. 15]
Solomon exhorts. Accordingly in "The Laws," the
philosopher who
learned from the Hebrews, Plato, commands
husbandmen
not
to
irrigate or
take water
from others,
until they have first dug down in their own ground to what is called the virgin soil, and found it dry.
For it is right
to supply want, but it is not well to
support laziness.
For
Pythagoras said
that,
"although it
be
agreeable to reason to take a share of a
burden, it is not a duty to take it away."
1889
TWISTING SAND CREEK
There
is
nothing about Daniel Sommer's claimed bad attitude which
can divert
people from
the facts abot imposing instruments as the "laded
burden" straw which
broke the backs of people who had been lulled into the
Cult of Unity.
The only lovely and honorable "evangelist" who
understood the CENI of
the Great Commission was labeled a Sommerite. But, then
so was Carl
Ketcherside and Leroy Garret in attitude: we might say
that the
Stone-Campbell Movement derived from Daniel Sommer
There
was never any organizational union between the Church of
Christ and the
Disciples (Christian Churches). However, at one
time there would
have been nothing in the public assembly which would
offend the Bible
knowledge and sensibilities of most people. If and
when it is
apparent that one group in "fellowship" is purpose
driven to
"infiltrate and divert" your congregation, and when that
attacking
church is organized and financed, the honorable thing to
do is to try
to cut off contact with that group. Several "unity
lovers" have
discovered since the origin of the Stone-Campbell
Movement that they
will not, have not hesitated to twist all recorded
history of the
"instrument cult" to take you captive.
Rick
Atchley: The era
of the progressive Church of Christ
is over.
Back
in the 80’s you could go to any major city, especially
in the South,
and you could find a progressive Church of
Christ — and if they would
preach grace, and if they would put words on a screen,
and if they
would let divorced people place membership, they
would grow.
The
generation of Boomers has enough denominational loyalty
that they’re
going to find the least legalistic
Well, we discipled the children of those
progressive churches
for a whole
generation to grow
past us Boomers.
They never
heard the sermons we heard.
They never
heard the rationale for a cappella
music.
We sent them to youth
rallies and Church of Christ events
with some of the finest
Christian
bands in the world.
We discipled our children to leave
our Movement!
The church at
Sand Creek was without any of the innovations.
When a group
attempted to impose instrumental music there was
objection. To
their credit they left rather than steal the
property. A Supreme
Court decision declared that the property belonged to
the
non-instrumental group which had founded the
congregation
People
do
not let minimal ethics stop them when they use the law
and lying to
take over a church as a defacto Christian Church.
People of the
Stone-Campbell Cult love to point to Sand Creek to
denounce them for
refusing to be TAKEN CAPTIVE. People who use
virtual violence
against Daniel Sommer over the instrument issue are the
same ones who
get violent when Churches of Christ will not submit to
what Scripture
and recorded history calls sin: "making the Lamb dumb
before the
slaughter."
Whatever
the few dupes of the NACC claim about "everone wants
instruments" the
lust usually begins with one misleader. As confessed,
they "cut out" a
small herd and instill the idea into their heads. Rick
Atckley took
over a decade of being "intentional" as they say before
a spirit told
him that it was time to preach that sermon enforced by
David Faust and
the NACC.
Dainel
Sommer Addresses Sand Creek.
About 20 decided to force instrumental music
and 100 Christian Church and
filed a lawsuit to take
over the new brick church house.
opposed. The 20
discorders took the name The Illinois Supreme court
decided that
the group founded by the principles of Alexander
Campbell and existing
since 1834 owned the propert. In his very godly
address Daniel Sommer concludes:
"When
they determined to have their
devices if they had only left the
established congregations in peace and
had gone out into new fields and built up
churches, they would have acted with some honor.
But
instead of so doing they have thrust their devices
upon congregations established upon primitive
simplicity, and
thus
have become usurpers of other men's
labors. We were once a happy
and a peaceful and a prosperous people and for
peace we pled.
We entreated
them for God's sake and for the
love of heaven not to thrust their
devices upon us, but they would not
hearken. WHAT THEN MUST BE DONE? In the language of
the Apostle Peter
I answer: "THE TIME IS COME THAT JUDGEMENT MUST BEGIN
AT THE HOUSE OF
GOD."
It is not an honorable
thing to denounce Churches
of Christ as sectarian by attempting to force them to
approve of that
which has divided since singing as an ACT was first
introduced in the
year 373.
The Britannica Notes that: Or Click
Here
The introduction of musical
instruments (reed organs) into
Christian worship led to
many
local disputes. Other innovations added
occasion for controversy--the infringement of the "one-man
pastoral system" on the local ministry
of elders, introduction of selected
choirs, use of the title Reverend, and lesser
issues.
In
1889 several rural
churches in
Illinois issued the Sand
Creek
Declaration,
withdrawing fellowship from those practicing "innovations
and corruptions."
Foster
etal loves to use the "rural" word to describe how
churches of Christ
had such an appeal in Tenneessee. However, it was
the Bible
Reading Moms who forced the Stoneites to preach baptism
in North
Alabama where the appeal to raw emotion (called sorcery
or witchcraft)
failed to produce the falling down mad conversions.
R. L.
Dabney Presbyterian
It has always been common among the advocates
of this Popish mode of worship,
- to
meet the objections of simple minded Protestants to the
organ,
- with
the retort that their scruples were
the relics of fanatical prejudice,
- and
rustic ignorance.
It is
not strange that men, such as the
present
advocates of the organ in Presbyterian churches
in America, should
bring such a charge against such men; many of them educated
amidst
the richest specimens of the fine arts
in the old world, their youth
imbued with
the spirit of a gorgeous and poetic age?
According
to
Philo, the gods of the pagans
exploit this weakness
of
men.
For the sake of a
better effect, and with the intention of
more easily cheating
their
devotes,
that
they have set
their lies to
melodies, rhythms
and meters.."
Click
for more.
"Philodemos considered it
paradoxical that music should be
regarded as veneration of the gods while musicians
were paid
for
performing this
so-called veneration. Again, Philodemus held as self-deceptive the view that music
mediated religious
ecstasy. He saw
the
entire condition induced by the noise
of cymbals and tambourines as a disturbance of the spirit. (Paul
called it mad or
insane)
He found it
significant that, on the whole, only women and
effeminate men fell
into this folly."
"According
to
Philo, the gods
of the pagans exploit this weakness of men. For
the sake of a better
effect, and with the
intention of more easily cheating their devotes, that they have set
their lies to
melodies, rhythms and meters.." (Father Johannes
Quasten, p. 52)
Contrary
to the instrumental group who got in debt and needed
entertainment to
dig them out, Alexander Campbell derived his views of a
professional
clergy from John Calvin.
"A
preacher, like
any other man who gets in debt and fails to pay, soon
becomes
demoralized, and indifferent about paying--becomes,
indeed,
dishonest.
"We
have never been willing,
when not actively engaged in preaching to sit
around on our professional dignity, but have
labored at whatever
work presented itself to make
a living." (West, p. 167)
1890
CHRISTIAN STANDARD PROMOTES A NATIONAL CONVENTION IN
TENNESSEE
In
1890 the first
convention was called at Chattanooga to organize
the state society. The only churches in the state
of
Tennessee were those who had already adopted the organ
in their
worship. The Christian
Standard pumped
up the
news and "it is reported that the brethren in Nashville,
Tennessee
are desirous of entertaining our National
Convention next year."
This of course was just two congregations. A
survey showed that out of 2500
members in Nashville, less than one hundred wanted the
society.
Lipscomb noted that among the Society people
"the Bible is as popular
as last year's almanac."
"The
supporters of the
missionary society organized the Tennessee
State Missionary Convention on October
6, 1890,
with one purpose in
mind, as stated by J. H.
Garrison. He said at
that time:
"We
will take Tennessee for organized mission
work...within
five
years."
A.
I. Myhr was dispatched to
Tennessee to head the new state society despite the
protestation of David Lipscomb that Tennessee
was not a destitute mission
territory. Myhr and his supporters moved resolutely
ahead to accomplish their mission.
"Their
efforts met with some
success and the intent
was clear. Myhr was aggressive
and abrasive in his
operations. His
actions were of such a
nature, in promoting the missionary society, that he
came under the
direct attack of E. G. Sewel and David Lipscomb. And as
later event
proved, Myhr was no match for Lipscomb and the Gospel
Advocate.
1890
The Plan:
Again "We
will take Tennessee for organized mission
work...within
five
years."
- Why would anyone ENDORSE and
accept pay from those always on a hostile path?
Myhr
made his goals clear about promoting
the Society
and Instrumental music
even though it would divide the
churches. Myhr's goal,
Lipscome believed, was to
"ostracize, boycott, and
starve every preacher that does not APPROVE the
society."
- How could any godly person REBUKE
and use all of the RACA words on a people who simply
refused to be TAKEN?
BECAUSE
OF THE RADICAL ATTACK AGAINST THE NON-INSTRUMENTAL
CHURCHES..
Notice
that the
use of the organ affected only a few Christian
Churches. That did
not prevent the Disciples leadership , prompted by the
Standard, to IMPOSE
instruments into the Christian churches. This is proof
that Churches of
Christ had no organs.
"As
early as 1882, Sewell and Harding
were urging that a separation be brought about to identify that part of the
Christian
Church fellowship
which supported the organ
and the society. Lipscomb, at the time,
rebuffed his brethren who
called for such division. He sought no compromise, but
hoped that the
church would not suffer division."
That, of Course, proves
that they saw the Christian Church Fellowship as not
the same as The Church of Christ.
Not
until 1878 did anyone in
history MISuse
psallo to justify the massive discord they had
already sown by using
the ORGAN and Life Members of even
children of the Missionary Society. This has a
foundation beginning in heaven where Lucifer began to
TRAFFICK in
some spiritual world we do not understand. Being CAST
AS PROFANE (a
musical term) out of heaven he or most often showed up
in the garden
of Eden as the serpent meaning a MUSICAL ENCHANTER.
"By 1897,
Lipscomb was
reconciled to the fact that division had
already occurred
and the supporters of
the innovations would be
satisfied with nothing less than a complete take-over of
the churches...
(Adron Doran, J.E.Choate, The
Christian Scholar, p. 59
1901 Instruments of Music in the
Service of God By
David Lipscomb
Instruments had been
added into the Disciples of
Christ--Chrisitian Churches. In time the determination was
to "take
Tenneessee for the organ and society party within five
years."
That is proof that churches of Christ in Tennessee did not
belong to
the Stone-Campbell and God wants people to stop lying to
"take
Tennessee a hundred years later."
When the church determines to introduce
a service not required by God,
he who believes it
wrong is compelled to refuse in any way
to countenance
or affiliate with the wrong.
Sometimes
when a part of a church insists on and adopts
the wrong,
had I not better yield
than to create division in the church?
A
church that requires disobedience to God
to maintain peace in it is already an
apostate church; it has rejected God as it
only Ruler.
While forbearance and
love should be
exercised in seeking to show them the right and
persuading them to do it, it is
sinful to so affiliate with them as to encourage
and build up a church that is
going wrong.
In the case where the Society and Organ party goes to law to
seek
control of the property they have stolen, Lipscomb urged
people not to
go to law over property.
1902
THE NEWBERN HOSTILE TAKEOVER
In
1902 the
church at Newbern
was taken over by society and organ
people. The church, against
Lipscomb's advice, sued to retain the property.
Of course the society
could muster a majority and won the lawsuit. The
decision was handed
down in 1905 that the trouble did not warrant
the intrusion of the
courts:
"The pro-organ
party had said during the trial thatwhen the
organ
was used as a part of the worship, it was sinful; but they defended
it on
the ground that it was an AID to
worship.
Lipscomb,
on
the other hand,
had insisted that it was a distinct service,
and when
persisted in
always supersedes and destroys congregational
singing.
"The
court, passing on this
phase of the question, said that the claim that
the organ was not a part of the
worship
was untenable and it could not be
considered as merely
an aid to worship."
There is no command, example
or
remote inference that any of God's people assembled for
congregational
singing with instruments. Of course it comes as no
surprise that
Doctors of the Law who take away the key to knowledge do not
care
enough to grasp that SPEAK is the direct command for
teaching the
written LOGOS of the Living Word. Bringing in an organ
as an AID
was grasped by Churches of Christ as a weapon of violent
invasion.
The
the Logos.Mythos or Word.Music proof that when
people move away
from the Logos.Word of Jesus Christ they have fallen into an
effeminate
or perverse trap and will never get out.
Logos, Opposite.
kata pathos, Arist.EN1169a5
or personal experiences
Logos,
verbal noun of lego
Opposite kata pathos
Opposite music, poetry or rhetoric
Opposite
human reasoning
Opposite
Epagoge bringint in to one's aid, introduction
Alurement, enticement, incantation,
spell
Epagōg-ē , hē, 2. bringing
in to one's aid, introduction, 3.
invasion, attack,
5. process of reasoning, Aristox.Harm.pp.4,53M.
b. esp. in the
Logic of Aristotle, argument by induction (cf. “epagō”
1903
Stark:
In the Stark
Warlick Debate, thought of worship as the
emotion of the soul and that it might
"produce singing, shouting, praising,
leaping, dancing, hand clapping, or
thanksgiving and such should not be
suppressed by man made rules."
These commands of men are the
creed of their division of God's
people. Like Paul's '"man of sin," they
have taken their place in the temple of God
and assume to speak as God. God put it into
his sanctuary by command; and if he has not
taken it out, it remains there, unless some one
claiming superior authority to God shall as God put it
out of the temple of God. That character Paul calls
"the man of sin who opposseth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God: The Doom of such
is HELL. I need no authority for using
it; for where there is no law, there is no
transgression. [p.15]
What have they to do with my
worship of God? The whole thing comes from a devilish,
domineering spirit, which, instead of worshipping
God, has taken God's seat in judgment to control the
praise others may bring... it is well enough
to teach them: but 'rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft, and stubborness is as iniquity and
idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:23)
Like Paul's '"man of sin," they have
taken their place in the temple of God and assume to
speak as God. God put it
[instrumental music] into his sanctuary by
command; and if he has not taken it out, it
remains there, unless some one claiming superior
authority to God shall as God put it out of the
temple of God. That
character Paul calls "the man of sin who opposseth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God: The
Doom of such is HELL. I need no authority for
using it; for where there is no law, there is no
transgression. [p.15] What have they to do
with my worship of God? The whole thing comes from a
devilish, domineering spirit, which, instead of
worshipping God, has taken God's seat in judgment to
control the praise others may bring... it is
well enough to teach them: but 'rebellion is as the
sin of witchcraft, and stubborness is as iniquity and
idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:23)
Who put the twelfth
commandment into God's law, saying, "Thou shalt not
have an instrument of music in the congregation of the
saints?" David [Lipscomb], the destructive
critic, when, like the "man of sin," he sits in the
temple of God, says: "Thou shalt not." That is
the corner stone of his departure--the foundation of
his schism. Their church is built upon it, and a
few old fogies have made it a test of
fellowship. God will shake their thunder out of
them and put some lightning into them one of these
days. [p.28]
1903 J.W.McGarvey What Shall we
do with the Organ
Before
this it had bred similar
evils
among Methodist
societies and Baptist
and Presbyterian churches; for all
these bodies
in their early days knowing
that the practice originated in the Roman
Catholic Church, regarded it as a
Romish corruption and refused to tolerate
it until it was forced
upon
them by the spirit of
innovation which
characterized the present century.
Now
it is obvious that these evils, the baleful
effects of
which will never be fully
revealed until the day
of judgment,
> must
be charged either against those who have introduced the
instrument
>
or against those who have opposed
its introduction.
I
begin by arguing that the
practice belongs to a
class
of things expressly
condemned in the New
Testament.
Jesus
said in
reference to certain additions which the Pharisees had made to the ritual
of the law: "In vain do
they worship
me,
teaching as their
doctrines the precepts
of men." In these
words
he propounds the doctrine that all worship is vain
which
originates in human
authority; or, to put
it negatively, that no worship is acceptable to God
which he himself
has not authorized.
Paul
echoes this teaching
when he condemns as "will
worship" the observance of, ordinances "after the precepts
and doctrines
of
men."
(Col. 2: 20-23,
R. V.) The Greek word here rendered "will
worship" means
worship
self-imposed, as
distinguished from worship imposed by God;
and the practices referred to in the context are
condemned on this
ground, thus showing that all self-imposed worship is
wrong in the
sight of God.
To deny,
then, that the present use of instrumental music in the
church is a part of the
worship,
is
a subterfuge and an afterthought
ingeniously got up to
obscure the fact that it comes
under the condemnation
pronounced against vain worship and will worship.
DEAR
BROTHER: Your second
question is this: "
>
Should
we fail to
convince the brethren that the use of the organ is
wrong,
>
what
else can we do to keep them from
forcing it upon us?"
Did I
not know that organs have often been
forced into churches by
the act of a few
individuals without
asking formal consent, and
that
majorities
have
often
put them in without regard to the protests of
minorities, I would be
surprised at the form in which you put your question;
but
I hope that the
brethren to whom you refer are too conscientious to
do such a thing.
If conscience
does not
deter them, they ought to be restrained by fear
of bringing into contempt the
practice which they
advocate; for nothing can
sooner bring the use of the organ into contempt
than
to
see
its advocates force
it upon churches in an unchristian manner.
To act
wickedly in order to worship
God more to your
taste
is to imitate Rachel, who
stole her father's gods in the
hope that the
stolen property would help her
religiously (And give her the deed
to her father's
property!)
THE
1906 BIG FAT LIE
Christian Union: Chapter 5 - Period Of
Reunion 1906
By J.H.
Garrison
Speaking of a
National Organization by others, he notes:
"These fragmentary movements,
while of value in
preparing the way for something better, were not
satisfactory. It was
believed that something better was practicable, and the
great
Inter-Church Conference in New York City in
November, 1905 was called,
in this conviction. It was believed that the time had come
when the
evangelical Protestant bodies of Christendom--
J. H. Garrison defines the instrument as "matters of
opinion" but if
you don't share his opinion then you are disloyal to the
"progressive"
movement and to Christ. Furthermore, to allow Paul's
instructions about
singing in church to govern one's worship practices is
equivalent to
falling back under the Law of Moses. With that in mind it is
easy to
see how division was necessary.
"The same erroneous
method of reasoning has been applied to the Sunday-school,
to missionary organizations. "We come now to the
consideration of the very latest of these efforts to give
visible and
tangible expression to the growing unity of the Church,
for the double
purpose of
utilizing this
unity in the service of our common Master, and of
promoting a
still closer unification of the religious
forces of Christendom.
"We are bound, therefore, by every
consideration of loyalty to
Jesus Christ, and by every regard for our future growth
and
development, to co-operate to the fullest
extent possible,--which would
be in different degrees, no doubt, in different places--
with all who love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ for the
advancement of his kingdom among men.
This is what the federation movement
means, and as such, it is
the next logical step--the next inevitable step--toward
the complete
unity of Christians.
But there are other ways in
which some have been disloyal to this
high ideal. This ideal implies that Christianity consists,
as it does,
of faith in and devotion to Christ, and is pre-eminently a
spiritual
religion; that it is a life, rather than a system of
doctrine, although
it involves sound doctrine. And yet it has often happened
that in their
preaching and teaching the chief emphasis has been laid by
these men on
things that are external, rather than on things
which are internal and
vital. Obedience to an externalcommand,
like baptism or the Lord's Supper,
In some instances local churches have
been rent asunder over the
organ question, and sister congregations have been
alienated from each
other because of the different ways of doing missionary
work. It is
easy to see, of course, how utterly inconsistent with any
claim of
catholicity of position or spirit, for the movement,
The fact that they had almost no success in their hostile
takeover of
Churches of Christ, the Disciples of Christ-Christian
churches tried to COUNT the Churches of Christ as
their members--all of them.
The Churches of Christ did absolutely nothing sectarian: by
definition
the Sectarians or Heretics are those who IMPOSE something
not required
over the views held entoto. En toto included almost
100% of the
churches in Tennessee in 1906. Therefore, the
Disciples/
Christian churches financed by their denominatal money
extorted from
the congregations were not even COUNTABLE in the state and
the Society
could not tolerate such a census.
The 1906 Census which was, I believe, the first, saw the
Disciples / Christian Churches attempting to do a body count
including
the Churches of Christ in Nashville. The Census taker knew
this was
utterly false and consulted Lipscomb who just said NO to the
body
snatchers.
The Disciples-Christian churches already had a
Denominational
Movement underway and needed the body count to send them
vast sums of
money.
As far as the PRESENT CLAIM by the Christian Churches you
have
to grasp that they did not begin to hold separate
denominational
meetings until 1927 and were still counted as Disciples unto
THEY were
removed from the census as late as 1971. That was the time
when Garrett
etal began to "cut out" Churches of Christ where "unity"
meant you
AFFIRM instruments or you CONFORM and then we can have
unity.
Now why would people fall for the NACC effort at "unity" and
claiming that Churches of Christ were legalistic sectarians
when the
Christian Church did not BEGIN to SECT out of the Disciples
until 1927?
When Churches of Christ denied that they had ever been
"joined" even
fraternally since the introduction of instruments among the
Disciples
which split that group. At that time the Disciples/Christian
Churches
issued a Centennial edition of the Declaration and Address
which should
prove to anyone that Churches of Christ could not be counted
on.
1907 --
Disciples in the
United
States become charter members of the
Federal
Council of Churches; a College of the Bible is
founded in
Melbourne,
the first school established to serve the Movement in
Australia and New
Zealand
THIS IS WHY
THE ORGAN AND SOCIETY PARTY HOPED TO "TAKE TENNEESSE IN
5 YEARS"
While Churches
of Christ were NEVER joined to this institution intended
to include 'ALL OF CHRISTENCOM',
the Christian Churches (NACC) began their defection in
1927 and were
not DISCOUNTED in the Disciples census. The only ones who
ever SECTED
out of an organized SECT is the NACC and it is not honest
by convince
people that the Church of Christ sected out of the
Christian Churches
which would not be formalized for decades.
While churches attacked by the society and organ party
were split and
families and friends were forced apart, in Tennessee there
was
virtually not vicroy from the attack.
Only when individual Christian churches were "infiltrated
and diverted"
was fellowship impossible. It borders on insanity to make
a living
telling everyone that Churches of Christ were even when
they refused to
continue fraternal fellowship when to do so would be to
turn the flock
over to the Purpose Driven Cult.
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