The church is portrayed as the vital spiritual community where believers gather for worship, encouragement, and mutual growth (Hebrews 10:25). Illustrations often use images of teamwork, like flying geese or kite parts, emphasizing unity, active participation, and shared responsibility in advancing God's kingdom and nurturing faith.
The Church is besieged but preserved, like a burning bush that is not consumed.
This is the state of the Church militant; she is like the ark floating upon the waters, like a lily growing among thorns, like the bush which burned with fire, and was not consumed: so the city of God is always besieged, but never ruined.
— Henry Smith
The Church must reach into all parts of society to bring moral renovation to the world.
The Church must grope her way into the alleys and courts and purifices of the city, and up the broken staircase, and into the bare room, and beside the loathsome sufferer; she must go down into the pit with the miner, into the forecastle with the sailor, into the tent with the soldier, into the shop with the mechanic, into the factory with the operative, into the field with the farmer, into the counting-room with the merchant. Like the air, the Church must press equally on all the surfaces of society; like the sea, flow into every nook of the shoreline of humanity; and, like the sun, shine on things foul and low as well as fair and high, for she was organized, commissioned, and equipped for the moral renovation of the world. Bp. Simpson.
The Church is described by many biblical names illustrating its spiritual identity and role.
Assembly of the Saints; Assembly of the Upright; Body of Christ; Branch of God's Planting; Bride of Christ; Church of God; Church of the Living God; Church of the First-born; City of the Living God; Congregation of Saints; Congregation of the Lord's Poor; Dove; Family in Heaven and Earth; Flock of God; Fold of Christ; General Assembly of the First-born; Golden Candlestick; God's Building; God's Husbandry; God's Heritage; Habitation of God; Heavenly Jerusalem; Holy City; Holy Mountain; Holy Hill; House of God; House of the God of Jacob; House of Christ; Household of God; Inheritance; Israel of God; King's Daughter; Lamb's Wife; Lot of God's Inheritance; Mount Zion; Mountain of the Lord of Hosts; Mountain of the Lord's House; New Jerusalem; Pillar and Ground of the Truth; Place of God's Throne; Pleasant Portion; Sanctuary of God; Sister of Christ; Spiritual House; Spouse of Christ; Strength and Glory of God; Sought out, a City not forsaken; Tabernacle; The Lord's Portion; Temple of God; Temple of the Living God; Vineyard. Date.
True pillars of the Church are firm in faith and transparent in character like alabaster pillars.
In the Cathedral of St. Mark, in Venice, a marvellous building, lustrous with an Oriental splendor far beyond description, there are pillars said to have been brought from Solomon's Temple: these are of alabaster, a substance firm and durable as granite, and yet transparent, so that the light glows through them. Behold an emblem of what all true pillars of the Church should be!—firm in their faith, and transparent in their character; men of simple mould, ignorant of tortuous and deceptive ways, and yet men of strong will, not readily to be led aside, or bent from their uprightness. A few such alabaster men we know; may the great Master Builder place more of them in his temple! Spurgeon.
Quarrels in the Church cause it to waste away instead of advancing its mission.
Any physician will tell you, that if there be fever in the body, if the pulse be one hundred and twenty instead of seventy or eighty, the body will waste and pine away. If there be the fever of ceaseless quarrels and disputations about little crotchets in a Church, or congregation, instead of growing, it will decline; instead of advancing in its majestic mission, it will positively decay, until it die out, a suicide, having turned the weapons that ought to have been combined against the foe against its own bosom, and into its own heart.
— Dr. Cumming
The Church is like a ship tossed by waves but never drowned because Christ steers it.
As a ship upon the sea is tossed upon the waves from one place to another, even so is the Church often tossed in the sea of this world, yet never drowned, because Christ is in it, and holdeth the helm with his hand.
— Cawdray
Stragglers who fall from the Church’s ranks may perish unnoticed, showing the cost of falling away.
There are stragglers in the church, as well as in the army, who fall out of the ranks and are lost. Sometimes they follow the regiment for days, by the ashes of its camp-fires, and subsist as best they can on the charity of the people, and the scraps left by those in camp. They sleep anywhere, or where night overtakes them. Three such from a Minnesota regiment have just arrived, after an absence of two weeks. They fell out of the ranks from sickness and exhaustion, and were thenceforth most truly wayfarers. They dodged guerillas, they slept in the brush, they feasted on the food left in deserted camps, and finally reached a point where they could obtain transportation to their regiment. Stragglers are not always thus fortunate. One found his way, by the aid of a stranger, into the hospital at Sedalia. He was dying even then, and could not give his name or regiment. He was a mere boy, and unequal to the toil of marching. He was wet and cold and weary, and in a few hours died; and we buried him in a nameless grave, thinking of the fond hearts that far away would bleed for tidings of him, the absent, the missing one, never, alas! to return to them. Army Correspondent.
Churches can have members who are spiritually dead yet continue in formal roles and attendance.
Have you ever read "The Ancient Mariner"? I dare say you thought it one of the strangest imaginations ever put together, especially that part where the old mariner represents the corpses of all the dead men rising up to man the ship, — dead men pulling the rope, dead men steering, dead men spreading sails. I thought what a strange idea that was. But do you know that I have lived to see that time? I have seen it done. I have gone into churches, and I have seen a dead man in the pulpit, a dead man as deacon, and a dead man handling the plate, and dead men sitting to hear. Spurgeon.
Churches often lose zeal as they age, with members becoming spiritually inactive and resistant to change.
In the first years of a church, its members are willing to endure hardships, and to make great exertions; but, when once it is prosperous, they desire to take their ease: as one who builds a ship is willing to work all the way from keel to deck until she is launched; thenceforward, he expects the ocean to buoy him up, and the winds to bear him on. The youth-time of churches produces enterprise; their age, indolence. But even this might be borne, did not these dead men sit in the door of their sepulchres, crying out against every living man who refuses to wear the livery of death. I am almost tempted to think, that if, with the end of every pastorate, the church itself were disbanded and destroyed, to be gathered again by the succeeding teacher, we should thus secure an immortality of youth. Beecher.
Despite population growth, evangelical church membership has increased proportionally more over time.
There are several classes of persons who croak over the prospects of Christianity in this country, viz., infidels, backsliders, impracticable religionists, old fogies, and desponding Christians. These individuals are often heard declaring that our churches are losing ground, falling behind the increase of our population. Statistics show, that the ratio of communicants to the inhabitants, ten years of age and upwards, was as follows:—
| In 1500, one communionist for 10 5-6 inhabitants. | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | " 1832, | " | " | " | 7 1-3 | " | | " 1843, | " | " | " | 6 4-25 | " | | " 1850, | " | " | " | 4 31-33 | " | | " 1860, | " | " | " | 4 2-5 | " |
During this same period, the population has increased nearly sixfold: but the communicants of evangelical churches have increased nearly fourteen and one-half fold; or the increase of church-membership has been two and a half times greater than that of the population. Comment is unnecessary. The figures speak louder than rhetoric. D. Dorchester.
Multiple churches in one town can be seen as spiritual fortresses against evil.
CHURCHES, Use of Some years since, there were a couple of gentlemen passing through Rutland, — the one acquainted with, the other a stranger in, the place. As they drew near the upper end of the town, the stranger, pointing to a building, asked, "What is that house occupied for?" — "That is the regular Baptist Church," replied the acquaintance. A few hundred yards farther on, the use of another edifice was inquired after, to which it was replied, "That is the Christian Church." — "Ah, yes!" As they entered the thickly-settled portion of the town, "Why there is another church," remarked the stranger. "Yes: that is the Freewild Baptist Church," said the acquaintance. Below the town, half a mile, they came to another house. "That is the Presbyterian Church," remarked the acquaintance. "Well, I declare!" said the stranger, "Rutland has the most forts to keep the Devil out, of any place of its size that I ever saw."
Controversies in the church are not necessarily evil but reflect the value of true religion.
Reason teacheth us, that, in ignorance and implied belief, it is easy to agree, as colors agree in the dark; or, if any country decline into atheism, then controversies wax dainty, because men do not think religion scarce worth the falling-out for: so it is weak divinity to account controversies an ill sign in the Church. Lord Bacon.
Joining any sincere Christian group is better than remaining outside the faith.
At a Bible Society meeting in England, a Romish priest came on the platform, and said, "Now, gentlemen, here you are telling us we should all take the Bible, and join you. Which shall we join? Here you are, — Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, Shakers, and the rest. All claim to be the best. What shall we do?" An Irishman replied, "I answer the gentleman, that, if he will join any one of us, he will be a great deal better than where he is now."
Envy in ministry causes secret slander and opposition to others' success.
Will any workman malign another because he helpeth him to do his master's work? Yet, alas! how common is this heinous crime amidst men of parts and eminency in the Church! They can secretly blot the reputation of such as stand cross to their own; and what they cannot for shame do in plain and open terms, lest they be proved palpable liars and slanderers, they will do in general and malicious intentions, raising suspicions where they cannot fasten accusations. And so far are some gone in this satanical vice, that it is their common practice, and a considerable part of their business, to keep down the estimation of those they dislike, and defame others in the slyest and most plausible way; and some go so far, that they are unwilling that any that are abler than themselves should come into their pulpits, lest they should be applauded above themselves. A fearful thing that any man who hath the least of the fear of God should so envy at God's gifts, and had rather that his carnal hearers were unconverted, and the drowsy not awakened, than that it should be done by another who may be preferred before them. Baxter.
Church members constrained by rigid forms lose freedom to grow and express true faith.
Many churches are like conservatories, in which the members are like a flower in a flower-pot: there it is in the flower-pot, and it cannot get out; and little sticks are put down beside it to keep it in a particular position; and every branch that attempts to go beyond a given point is instantly snipped off in order that the flower may assume an ideal shape. And the members of many churches are like geraniums trained for show, tied up, and constrained in root and branch and stem. There are thousands of people in churches that sit around in their respective rows, and take whatever nourishment is dealt out to them, and grow in just the shape as prescribed for them by those that have them in charge, and have no voice in determining what kind of structure shall be made of them. Beecher.
God uses trials like a jeweler’s tools to polish His church, His precious jewels.
We see in a jeweller's shop, that, as there are pearls and diamonds and other precious stones, there are files, cutting instruments, and many sharp tools for their polishing; and, while they are in the work-house, they are continual neighbors to them, and come often under them. The Church is God's jewel; his work-house, where his jewels are polishing for his palace and house; and those he especially esteems, and means to make the most resplendent, he hath oftenest his tools upon. Leighton.
The church is essential like a lighthouse despite human faults among its members.
Do you ask, "Why not do away with the church, if its members make so many mistakes?" Would you take away the lighthouse, because careless mariners, through wrong observations, run their ships high and dry upon the shore? Would you put out the lamp in your house, because moths and millers burn their wings in it? Beecher.
The Old Testament nourishes and enriches the New Testament Church like a life-giving river.
The Old Testament is the watershed of the New. These deep springs, which irrigate and fructify the New-Testament Church, took their rise from the mountains of Judea, and descended, like the volume of the Nile, to fertilize and fructify the landscape around it.
— Captain Gordon
The Church, empowered by God, is a mighty force to conquer the world for Christ.
If, as a recent writer says, "A powerless Christian ought to be felt to be as great a misnomer as a forceless thunderbolt," what a resistless army ought the Church, enrolled under the banner of the Lord of Hosts, to be? Strong in faith, in purity, in prayer, in unity, in hope, in effort, in trial, in weakness, in wealth, in culture, in numbers, but strongest of all in God, why shall it not conquer the world for Christ?
Rejecting the Bible and church is like refusing healing from a doctor for a broken limb.
There are men who imagine they should do well enough if they could throw the Bible overboard, and the ministers after it, and sink the whole church in the sea. It is as if a man with a shattered limb should think to better himself by thrusting the doctors and their instruments out of doors. They did not break his leg, but only propose to set it. Under the hand of the poorest of them, the limb will be better than if the shattered bone were left to heal unsplintered.
— Beecher
Without Sunday, the visible Church of Christ could not exist on earth.
It is not too much to say, that, without the Sunday, the Church of Christ could not as a visible society exist on the earth. Dr. Macleod.
Uniformity in religion is undesirable; diversity reflects God's beautiful design.
Uniformity in religion is not desirable. It is by no means desirable, even if you could obtain it. For one thing, it is very unbeautiful. A palace with every aspect like every other aspect, and every wing like every other wing, and every window like every other window, and every column like every other column, would be a tame and spiritless palace. A city with every street a second edition of every other street, and every house in every street a second edition of every other house in every other street, would not be a very beautiful city. A landscape without lakes, without rivers, without hills, without mountains, without rocks, without forests, is dead and spiritless. One star differeth from another star in glory, and, if it were not so, would the heavens be as beautiful as they are? Would you like to have the stars all of the same size, divided into equal distances, and measured, as it were, by rule? Are not the stars more beautiful because they are scattered carelessly yonder in the deep blue, sometimes numbers of them together, and at another time a tiny star shining forth almost solitary and alone in the distance? Would the heavens be as beautiful as they are if it were not so? And would it be as beautiful, dear friends, if you could bind every minister to preach the same as every other minister all over England, if there could be one formula, if the prayers and every thing here on the sabbath morning were exactly the same as the prayers in every other place, and if we were in all things exactly alike?
— T. Jones
A child questions why ministers say 'Amen' but never 'A woman' in prayers.
A bright little girl, eight or nine years old, who had heard much talk on the subject of woman's rights, came home from meeting one day, and asked in a somewhat indignant tone, "Mamma, what makes the minister always say Amen? Why don't he ever say A woman?"
A legend illustrates the belief that women speaking in church was considered unlawful.
The legend says, that once, when St. Bernard entered the great church at Spire, Germany, the image of the virgin saluted him, saying, "Good-morrow, Bernard!" He replied, "Oh! your ladyship hath forgot yourself. It is not lawful for a woman to speak in the church."
Children should be allowed in church to hear and be captivated by Christ's commendation.
The Rev. John Brown, in a narrative of his experience, remarks, "I reflect on it as a great mercy, that I was born in a family which took care of my Christian instruction, and in which I had the privilege of God's worship, morning and evening. About the eighth year of my age, I happened, in a crowd, to push into the church at Abernethy, on a Sacrament Sabbath. Before I was excluded, I heard a minister speak much in commendation of Christ; this, in a sweet and delightful manner, captivated my young affections, and has since made me think that children should never be kept out of church on such occasions."
Lukewarmness in the church hinders effective witness and spiritual growth.
A minister of the gospel, in excusing himself and his church for not exerting themselves to instruct and gather in the multitude around them, said, "It is impossible for so large a church as ours, to do much for those out of our body. It takes," said he, "one-third of us to watch the other two-thirds!" What a confession is this! Only one in three possessing the true spirit of Christianity, and he is prevented from being an efficient soldier of the cross, by the lukewarmness and sins of his brethren!
## EVERY PUNISHED.
tion. The unhappy niece, confounded and overwhelmed, could not support the idea of the consequent shame and punishment of her guilt, and she suddenly expired. She was buried at the same time with her aunt.
A minister's rebuke about divisiveness applies personally to each listener, urging self-reflection.
When sitting under the ministry of a devoted servant of God, says a gentleman, he on one occasion preached upon the Diotrephesian spirit. In his usual faithful manner, he pointed out its sad effects upon a church, until in his application he came so close, that I was surprised, knowing, as I did, how delightful the harmony had always been in that church. I soon began to persuade myself, however, that there was a Diotrephes there, but could not satisfy myself who it was. Finally, I ventured to seek information, and turning to a good brother, an elder in the church, I said, Mr. L—, who does Mr. S. mean? "You and me," was his quick reply. I have never asked since, who my minister meant, when he was delivering the message of his Master.
A new convert's disappointment reveals the gap between ideal and real Christian fellowship.
A young lady in Rhode Island, who had been brought up by a pious and devoted mother, and who had always looked up to Christians as patterns of all that was excellent in piety and morality, as forming societies next in their loveliness to that of heaven, was led to repentance, and united with a Christian church. Some time after her baptism, she heard some of the older and leading members of the church, speaking in terms of severity and bitterness respecting the faults and errors of some of the other members; and without appearing grieved at the conduct they so freely censured. Her surprise and disappointment were most painful. Is this, thought she, the boasted fellowship of the church? Can these professors know any thing of the spirit of Christ? She was led to doubt their Christianity; and yet as they had expressed the same attachment to Christ and his cause which she had herself, she was led to think that her own feelings, as well as theirs, were but the kindlings of enthusiasm, the joys of false hopes, and the reveries of an excited imagination. Thus her mind was filled with gloom and despair; she felt she had been most cruelly deceived, and her wretchedness was extreme. She poured out her soul in tears, day and night; but tears proved the food rather than the medicine of her grief. At length she began to be subject to doubts respecting the reality of spiritual religion; she, of course, neglected many of its duties; if she tried to pray, her prayers seemed but foolishness;—at length Jesus Christ became an object of skepticism, and at last she even called in question the existence of a God. And here she remained "in tideless, shoreless wo," till, through the agency of the Providence and Spirit of God, she was led to come to herself, arise and go to her father's house!
Oh! how should such a fact as this urge professed Christians, one and all, to be "kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love," and to put away from among them "all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, with all malice."
A minister tactfully rebukes a congregation for neglecting their care for him.
Rev. Zabeliel Adams at one time exchanged with a neighboring minister—a mild, inoffensive man—who, knowing the peculiar bluntness of his character, said to him, "You will find some panes of glass broken in the pulpit window, and possibly you may suffer from the cold. The cushion, too, is in a bad condition; but I beg of you not to say any thing to my people on the subject; they are poor, &c." "O no! O no!" says Mr. Adams. But ere he left home, he filled a bag with rags and took it with him. When he had been in the pulpit a short time, feeling somewhat incommoded by the too free circulation of the air, he deliberately took from the bag, a handful of the rags, and stuffed them into the windows. Toward the close of his discourse, which was more or less upon the duties of a people toward their clergyman, he became very animated, and purposely brought down both fists upon the pulpit cushions, with a tremendous force. The feathers flew in all directions, and the cushion was pretty much used up. He instantly checked the current of his thought, and simply exclaiming,—"Why, how these feathers fly!"—proceeded. He had fulfilled his promise of not addressing the society on the subject, but had taught them a lesson not to be misunderstood. On the next Sabbath, the window and cushion were found in excellent repair.
The church is the beautiful bride of Christ, called and prepared by the Spirit.
Abraham, type of the Father (Matt. 22:2). Servant type of Holy Spirit who calls the bride (Jn. 16:13, 14). Servant type of Spirit enriching the bride (1 Cor. 12:7-11). Rebekah type of church the “called out” virgin bride (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-32). Isaac type of Bridegroom going out to receive His bride (1 Thess. 4:14-16) Church—Bride of Christ. Song Sol. The spiritual interpretation of the book is of Christ the Son and His heavenly bride (2 Cor. 11:1-4). The church is beautiful to Christ as Christ is beautiful to the church.
Without the Holy Spirit's presence, church buildings are empty and ineffective.
All cost and pains are lost on stately structures unless God has been in the work. If He fails to manifest His glory in them they are but ruinous heaps
Christ gave Himself to purchase and prepare the church, His unified pearl.
Church the pearl of great cost. Pearl is one, a perfect symbol of unity (1 Cor. 10:17; 12:12, 13; Eph. 4:4-6). Formed by accretion, and that not mechanically but vitally, as Christ adds to the church (Acts 2:41, 47; 5:14; 11:24; Eph. 2:21; Col. 2:19). Christ having given Himself for the pearl, now prepares it for presentation to Himself (Eph. 5:25-27)
Christians are the living stones forming the spiritual tabernacle, called and equipped by God.
Souls redeemed by Christ are the materials from which the Gospel tabernacle is being built (1 Pet. 2:5). Those called to the building of this house are those whom God has made fit for the work. Have ability and willingness
The church is the bride of Christ, born from His pierced side, united as one spirit with Him.
Eve a type. A bride needful to Adam, as church needful to Christ. Born out of opened side of the man—church out of the pierced side of Christ. Eve nearest to Adam as church is to Christ. Adam's deep sleep—Christ's three days' sleep before church born. "Bone of my bone"—as church is member of Christ's body, flesh and bones—one spirit with Him
The Holy Spirit unites believers into one spiritual body, imperfect yet truly one church.
Illustrated in feast of Pentecost. Speaks of descent of Holy Spirit to form church. Leaven is present for the church is not perfect (Mt. 13:33; Acts 5:1, 10; 15:1). Note in this feast there are "loaves" not separate "sheaves." Real union of particles, making a homogeneous body (1 Cor. 10:16, 17; 12:12, 13, 20)
The true church is the spiritual seed of Abraham, a heavenly people typified by Ruth.
15:3-6. Abram's earthly and spiritual seed. Dust of earth—Abram's earthly seed, the Jews. Stars of heaven, Abram's spiritual seed, the true church, the heavenly people Church —Typified in Ruth. Book of Ruth as a foreview of church (Ruth the Gentile bride) Christ (the Bethlehemite who is able to redeem).
Spiritual blessing and power come only through unity, prayer, and expectancy in the church.
The condition of spiritual blessing. Cannot breathe power of the Spirit upon a discordant church. Be united, expectant, prayerful and His power will come and fill the church
Spiritual progress in the church is marked by quietness, order, and decency, not noise or notoriety.
Noise and notoriety not marks of spiritual progress (1. 7). In building the spiritual temple, quietness and order become and befriend the work
Unconverted believers crave fleshly things, lacking appetite for God's spiritual Bread.
Kadesh-Barnea experience. Unconverted church members with no healthy appetite for Bread of God, clamor for things pleasing to the flesh in the work and way of the church
Spurgeon models respectful cultural sensitivity and expects reciprocal respect in worship.
One day, three young men entered the Surrey Gardens Music Hall when Mr. Spurgeon was preaching there, and seated themselves in a conspicuous position, with their hats on. The officials requested them to take off their hats, but they refused to do so. Presently, Mr. Spurgeon caught sight of them, and led his discourse round to show the respect which all are bound to show to the feelings and usages of others. "The other day," said he, "I went into a Jewish synagogue, and I naturally uncovered my head, but on looking round I perceived that all the rest wore their hats, and so, not wishing to offend against what I supposed to be their reverent practice, though contrary to my own, I conformed to the Jewish use, and put on my hat. I will now ask those three young Jews up in the gallery to show the same deference to our Christian practice in the House of God as I was prepared to show them when I visited their synagogue, and take off their hats." Of course, after this kind and sensible appeal, they could do no other than comply.
Being a Christian means joining a committed community, not fighting alone.
Saint Paul, in writing to the Christians of his day, urges them to be "good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ." If every Christian is a soldier, then the Church ought to be called "the Christian Army." And this makes plainer to us what it means to join the Church. Armies, as you know, are divided into regiments, and regiments into companies. Every soldier in the army belongs to a certain company. If a man said that he wanted to belong to the United States Army, but that he did not want to join any particular regiment or company, but that he intended to be a soldier "in general," people would laugh at him. He would be like a man who took his gun and went out all alone to fight against Spain when we were at war with her. Or it would be as if a man in a city should say that he wanted to fight fire, but instead of joining a fire company, he would snatch up his pail and run alone to put out the fire every time there was an alarm. Now, in the Christian army there are also regiments and companies. The different denominations, like the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Congregationalists, and so on, are the regiments. The Churches like this and other Churches are the companies in the army. So, when anyone says he wants to make war on wickedness and to bring in the reign of love and peace and good-will which Christ started His Church to fight for, we ask him to join one of the companies of the Christian army. That is, we ask him to join a Church. You may ask if one cannot be a Christian outside of the Church. I answer, Yes, he can. But he is very much like the man with his pail running to put out the fire, or the lone soldier. He can do better work if he works with others. Furthermore, Christ said, "He that confesseth me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven, and he that denieth me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven." In joining the Church you confess Christ. You may ask me too, how old one should be before he can join the Christian army, known as the Church of God. I answer, there is no set age. Some boys and girls are ready to join before others. One little girl who was going to join the Church was told by some of the members of her Sunday-school class that she wasn't old enough. She replied, "Anyone who is old enough to know right from wrong is old enough to join the Church." If you are trying honestly day by day to be like Christ and to do His will, and you wish to be a better soldier of the cross, then you are ready to join the Church. In the Christian army there are old and young, rich and poor, wise and simple, all under the one flag, -- the banner of the Cross; all under the one Captain, -- even Jesus Christ. And the best thing about our Captain is, He has never lost a battle yet, and never will. All those who enlist under His flag are sure to win, and to hear God's "Well done."
True church purification will remove empty traditions and rhetorical embellishments.
When Oliver Cromwell was about to turn the Members of Parliament out of their chamber, he pointed to the mace, and cried, "Take away that bauble!" When he shall come, who will effectually purge the church, he will say much the same of many ecclesiastical ornaments, now held in high repute. Gowns, and altars, and banners, and painted windows, will all go at one sweep with "take away those baubles." Nor will the rhetorical embellishments and philosophies of modern pulpits be any more tenderly dealt with. "Take away this bauble" will be the signal for turning many a treasured folly into perpetual contempt.
Those who complain most in church often contribute least to its work.
A heavy waggon was being dragged along a country lane by a team of oxen. The axle-trees groaned and creaked terribly, when the oxen turning round, thus addressed the wheels:—"Halloa, there! why do you make so much noise? we bear all the labour, and we, not you, ought to cry out!" Those complain first in our churches who have least to do. The gift of grumbling is largely dispensed among those who have no other talents, or who keep what they have wrapped up in a napkin.
A dead church is spiritually cold and lifeless without the presence of the Lord.
A dead church is a reeking Golgotha, a breeding place of evils, a home of devils. The tombs may be newly whitewashed, but they are none the less open sepulchres, haunts of unclean spirits. A church all alive is a little heaven, the resort of angels, the temple of the Holy Ghost. In some of our churches everybody seems to be a little colder than anybody else. The members are holy icicles. A general frost has paralyzed everybody; and though some are colder than others, yet all are below zero. There are no flowing rills of refreshment, but everything is bound hard and fast with the frost of indifference. Oh, that the Lord would send forth His wind and melt the glaciers. Oh, that the Spirit of God would chase winter out of every heart and every church. No human power can keep a church from a frost bite which numbs and kills. Except the Lord be there, growth, life, warmth, are all impossible.
Many discard spiritual meaning, keeping only outward form like tea leaves without the water.
Form—The leaves of. When tea was first introduced into this country a person favored a friend with a pound of it. It was exceedingly expensive, and when he met his friend next, he enquired, "Have you tried the tea?" "Yes, but I did not like it at all." "How was that? Everybody else is enraptured with it." "Why," said the other, "we boiled it in a saucepan, threw away the water, and brought the leaves to table; but they were very hard, and nobody cared for them." Thus many people keep the leaves of form and throw away the spiritual meaning.
God's people should watch faithfully like city sentinels to protect the church from surprise attacks.
In times of war, every fortified city had upon its walls certain watchmen, so as to see eye to eye; that is to say, the eye of one sentinel reached to the eye of another, and so they encompassed the city round about. Whoever passed that way by day or night, they challenged him; and if he turned out to be a foe, they gave an alarm, and straightway men at arms came forth from the guard-room, and the city was protected against a surprise. God's people, and especially the stronger, the more instructed, and the most experienced of them, should act as watchmen on the walls, for Christ's sake.
The value of a gathering depends on spirit and purpose, not size or numbers.
The size of a gathering is not the important thing, it is the spirit and purpose of it.
Some years ago at a meeting of Congregationalist ministers in Windham County, Conn., one of their number arose and proposed that arrangements be made for a great convocation of all the ministers and churches in all that county and vicinity. He expatiated largely upon the importance of such an assembly, tho without giving any very definite evidence as to the value of the results that might be attained; and closed by recommending the project to the favorable consideration of the brotherhood.
An old and well-known and somewhat eccentric preacher, Thomas Williams, arose in his place and spoke in substance as follows:
“A man once said: ‘If all the iron in the world were made into one ax, what a great ax that would be! And if all the water in the world were poured into one pond, what a great pond that would be! And if all the wood in the world were made into one tree, what a great tree that would be! And if all the men in the world were made into one man, what a great man that would be!’ And then,” drawled out the speaker, “if that great man should take that great ax, and fell that great tree into that great pond, what a great splosh there would be!”
The old man sat down, and nothing more was heard of the “great splosh” or the great meeting.
Many wealthy businessmen are church members, but fewer actively attend or live faithfully.
Dr. Crafts asked a prominent business man of Chicago, who has been active in the very heart of its commercial life for sixteen years, to make a careful list of its one hundred richest men, and then tell him how many of them were church-members. His report was, “Seventy church-members, twenty-four attend church, and I think are not members; three I consider dissipated, and three are Jews, who are good citizens.”
A church can appear alive but be spiritually dead and ineffective in winning souls.
Perhaps nothing is more common than a profession of spiritual life with very feeble evidence of its existence.
A preacher visiting an infirmary, guided through the institution by a member of the medical staff, described various cases as the two passed along: “Anemic condition,” “creeping paralysis,” “nervous dyspepsia,” “locomotor ataxia,” etc. Having passed through all the wards, the minister said, “I have known a church with just such people in it. It took six hundred members a whole year to bring eleven souls to confess Christ. The prayer-meeting was affected by creeping paralysis and four-fifths of the men seemed to be suffering from locomotor ataxia of the soul.” The doctor replied, “And I one day remember seeing a very beautiful engine at an exhibition, but it was on a table, not on rails. It was only four feet long and about two feet high, and when I asked the man in charge what it was for he said it was not for use in any way, but was simply on exhibition. And,” added the doctor, “I have seen ministers and churches just like that.” (Text.)
The Church must keep constant communication with Christ to avoid spiritual wreck.
There are no wrecks among the golden ships of the heavens, for a master hand keeps the movements of the fixt spheres in unison. An effort is being made to have unison among the movements of all ships at sea. The proposal is that the Eiffel tower be equipped with a wireless apparatus, powerful enough to send Hertzian waves completely round the world, that ships may not be wrecked by being confused as to the longitude. It is said that all ships in communication with Eiffel tower will harmonize in their movements. Noon and midnight will be indicated by a prearranged signal.
The Church is a ship of state with its members as the crew. Each church is commanded to keep in constant and direct communication with the great Head of the Church, the high tower of righteousness. (Text.)
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