Nevada County picayune., 1890-01-29
RELIGIOUS COLUMN.
Edited by GEO. A. GARDNER.
UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
NIMBLf, TWO.


 Christ ought to be unit in doctrine as well as in organic form. There is but one faith, and we are exhorted to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. The faith mentioned above is the doctrine of the Gospel, and as there is mani festly but one faith, so there IS no authority for different and conflict ing creeds. The whole system of Christian faith IS contained in the Bible. and it is therefore the only sufficient rule of our faith and prac- tice. The great fundamental doc trines of Christianity, such as the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, faith, regeneration, bap- tism. the resurrection, and the final judgment, admit of no dispnte, and form a basis upon which all Chris tians ought to unite in one common brotherhood.
 So far as admission into the true church is concerned, that Is condl- toned upon faith in the Gospel, and as soon as the condition is fulfilled that moment admission is secured in- to the spiritual church or kingdom, without the intervention of priest, minister or visible church. There IS distinction between the visible and invisible church-the one is from God. the other is from man. The visible church is symbol of the in- visible. and hence should conform to the real and true church in all re- spects where the corresponding facts are clearly revealed. The invisible church is a compact united spiritual body, under the leadership of the 1 Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, the invisible church should be thoroughly united under their di- vine head.
 There is perfect unanimlty of sen timent and doctrine in the invisible church; there ought to be the same concord and harmony in the ranks of the visible church. Regeneration 1 is absolutely necessary to admission [ into the invisible church or kingdom -"ENcept a man be born of water and the spirit he can not enter the kingdom of God" Therefore, no person ought to be received into the visible church or kingdom prior to regeneration. The invisible church is the family of God, the heavenly family, and as discord and division are utterly incompatible with our ideas of such q family. therefore, there should be perfect union and 1 harmony in the visible church. Our 1 Savior says that house divided against itself cannot stand, and we have many sad proofs of this in the history of families, churches and states.
 { Another and conclusive argument in favor of unity of doctrine among : the disciples of Christ is founded up- on the fact that all have the same ! teacher. The Holy Spirit is the in- fallible teacher of all true Christians, and the promise is that He will lead them into all truth. This divine and 1 infallible teacher does not inculcate diverse and conflicting doctrines, ] He does not teach Calvanism and [ Arminianism at the same time. Nor does He sanction the conflicting crecds into which chrisendom is dI- vided. But He teaches the great doctrines of love to God and man and where this love prevail, in the heart, it soon fuses into common brotherhood all who are brou 5ht un- der its beneiicent influence. A strong reason is given by our Savior him self why his followers should be uni ted. in the 2lst verse of the l,th chapter of John, That they all may all be one. as thou, father, art in me and m thee, that they also be one in us. that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" Here it is declared. that unity among his disci- pies would exert powerful influence l in bringing the world to Christ; and accordingly we find divisions among ! Christians have always been stum- ] bling block to the world, while the reverse is equally true of united, | harmonious church.
 How often do men of the world urge as an objection against Chris tianity the strfes and divisions by which it Is torn into so many fact ] ,,..., ;, ,h, ,. ,,r,.