Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-29
DUTY TO THE CHURCH.
Difference Between Loving the Breth-
rem and the Brotherhood.
THE METHODS OF PETER AND PAUL
Happy Medium Between the Protestant
and Catholic Churches.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE


the brethren and loving the brotherhood.
st. Peter, writing his first epistle, COM
mends his Christian disciples in the first
chapter because they love the brethren; in
the second chapter he e1horts them to love
the brotherhood. The brotherhood is the
society of the brethren. The brotherhood
is the church.
One of the notable contrasts between the
apostles Peter and Paul and their success
sors, the popes, the prelates and the presby-
ters, is in their attitude toward the church.
The New Testament takes but little ac-
count of institutions. So indefinite is the
New Testament record of the discipline, the
worship and the government of the apos--
tolic company of Christians that the Roman
ist, the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, the
Baptist, can each say, 'sMy way is the old
way" and each one can support his claim
by excellent Arguments out of the same
Scriptures. The truth is that nobody knows
what the old way was. 1t is as lost as the
old table and the old chairs of the upper
room in which the church began.
1t Was Any Way With st. Paul.
Just how st. Paul set things in order at
Cor1nth no man can say. Probably st. Paul
was guided on that occasion, and on most
other occasions by the principle of oppor-
tunism. He did that which the opportunity
demanded He was great deal more con-
cerned with getting the truths of the Chris
tian religion into the hearts and lives of
men than he was with any particular way
of doing it. ANY way to help men! Amy
way to save the souls of men st. Paul
cared more for the brethren than he did for
the brotherhood.
On the other hand, there were some peo-
pie in Jerusalem, as there have been great
many people in great many places since,
who seemed to think that men ought to be
helped only in the one old way Whoever
would be saved must keep the law of Moses.
Really, suppose. they believed that moth
ing else would efectually help men. They
laid such emphasis, however, on the old
way that the supreme purpose of religion
seemed to be not so much TO make people
better as to make them better by particu-
lar process. Nobody had any business to
be good in any other way. To bring in any
new method was to endanger the whole sys-
TEN of religion.
Paying Attention to Form.
These people wanted to furnish the chan
nels of all the Christian churches with a
table and set of chairs made exactly like
those which had stood at Pentecost on the
floor of the upper room. They were against
any manwho suggested that although that
furniture answered excellently for Jerusa-
lem, something else might do better for
Alexandra or Rome. These people insisted
that all ''tishers of men" ought to use the
same sort of bait and tackle that
was used in the year one. Paul must fish
at Athens just as Peter fshed at Caper-
naum. The methods of the Lake of Gallilee
must be the methods of the Mediterranean.
This way of looking at things set the en-
great Importance to the established customs
of the society, elevated the brotherhood
over the brethren.
These two ideas about religion have con-
tended from the beginning. You remem-
Der how the apostles found man one day
who was doing their work, and doing it
more successfully than they we're, but not
according to their method. This man fol-
lowed not with them. He loved the breth-
rem; he loved every brother in the street.
He wanted to help all who needed help,
and he did help them, in the name of Jesus
Did Not Love the Brotherhood.
But for some reason he seems not to have
loved the brotherhood. He had no con-
nection with the brotherhood. And the
brotherhood did not like that They for
bsde the man. They said that all the good
work of casting out devils in the Masters
name belonged to them. That was the
brotherhood's s business. They put stop to
that bene6cient ministry. They were quite
willing to let the brethren 60 on being
vexed with devils, for the sake Of the broth
erhOod.
1t was about this matter that discussion
arose in the days of the apostles between
the Jewish and Gentle converts. The
Jews were not willing to relax the Iegula-
tions of the religious society to meet the
new conditions. Instead of going out with
hands extended to welcome and bring in
every Gentle brother who desired to take
Christ for his teacher, they stayed back,
rejecting that such an invitation would be
inconsistent with the customs of the brother
hood. And when Paul and Peter received
these brethren, and brought them by new
way into the brotherhood, and men began
to become Christians without ever being
Jews at all, these conservative people were
indignant. Peter lost the Presidency of
the church at Jerusalem.
Tho First Christian Controversy.
Paul was complained about, called
hereto, hindered in his work, and perse-
cuted. This was the first Christian contro-
versv 1t was the occasion of the calling of
the first Christian council That was what
they talked about there at Jerusalem;
should their first care be about the brother
hood, that is, about the keeping of the old
customs? or should their first care be about
the brethren, that is, about the saving of
the souls of all men in any way?
The question was decided at Jerusalem in
favor of the brethren. The mind OF the
Apostolic Church, as then expressed was
for setting the salvation of the individual
nhvv 81 af
tom. It was settled that the brotherhood
existed for the brethren. not the brethren
for the brotherhood. Nevertheless, the
thought of the church for centuries ran in
the other channel. The great work was the
building up of an institution, the strength
ening and celebrating of an ecclesiastical
organization. To erect stupendous build
ings, to maintain splendid ceremonial, to
gain money and to get power, were the
Undertakings which largely occupied the
medieval churchmen.
Result of the Reformation.
Then came the Reformation. The Reforma-
tion was that old Jerusalem council over
again. The question once more come up for
settlement-which is the more important,
the soul or the church. The brethren or the
brotherhood? The supreme purpose of the |
was to read lust the broken bal |
ance They took away the emphasis from |
the federal idea in religion, and set it on
the individual idea They taught that the |
soul of one man is worth more than all the |
ecclesiastical organizations in the world
Perish the brotherhood if it hinder the
brethren!
The Reformation, however, was not by |
any means an unqualified success. That,
indeed, could hardly be expected. The
Reformation was a reaction. and reaction
is fall from one extreme into another 1t