The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-13
ON THE LONE Plea
TO LABOR FOR THE UNION OF THE
4. FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST.
sermon Preached Yesterday at the
Church Of, Chrfst By Elder
l.. G. smith, of Nota-
auign.

| l.. G. Smith, Of Nota-
suiga.
At the Church of Christ yesterday
evening, Elder r. w. Smith, of Nash
Vile. preached strong doctrinal SER
mon on The One Plea"
Mr. Smith has been conducting a Sc
| ries of meetings in the church on the
corner of Church and Catoma Streets
and great interest was manifested in
him He will leave for his home In
Nashville to day.
In his sermon yesterday. Mr.. Smith
| said:
our siea.
Neither for them only do pray,
but for them also that believe on me
| through their word: that they all may
| be one; even as thou. Father art in me.
and / in thee. that they also may be
| in us; that the world may believe that
| thou didst send me."--John XVII:20-21.
All movements whether social, relig
| ious or political. are characterized by
| a special plea setting forth their own
and general principles In harmony
with this fundamental idea the stu
dent OF religious history will find the
great movement inaugurated by Mar
tin Luther. resting upon the doctrine
| of Justification by faith" as opposed
| the dead works of Rome. while 'sancti-
ncation or holy living" as opposed to
| the cold and formal ceremonies" of
| wesleys time, was the all inspiring
| principle of his reformation. While
| these great men did a wonderful work
In their efforts to reform the religious
establishments OF their day. yet these
efforts were partial and incomplete 1t
| remained for another to arise who
| would accept all the truth taught by
predecessors, and from this vantage
| ground, ignoring the doctrines ana
| traditions of men. lead the world out
| of the fog and mists of Babylon into
the glorious light of a fully restored
| christianity. That man was Alexander
Campbell, than whom no greater has
lived since the apostles. The "Resto-
ration movement which he inaugural
ed was based upon the special plea
| The Union of Gods People" This
great man, who was a member Of the
Presbyterian Church, looked upon the
| divided condition of the religious
world and saw from the light of Gods
| word, that such a condition of affairs
was contrary to the plain teachings of
| the Holy Scriptures. and determined by
Gods help, to bring about union
| among Gods people. He had no
| thought of organizing another denomi-
| nation, Tor the worio was aIreaoy'
cursed with denominations. but sim
ply to seek and offer a scriptural basis
upon which all would unite without
| the sacrifice of one single truth. In
other words, his efforts were to re-
store to the world the church OF the
New Testament in faith, name and
| practice. In order to accomplish such
an important work, 1t became necessa-
ry for him and his colaborers to break
| away. from all denominations and re-
Ataf oil hN1V al
that the churches (congregations) of
| the New Testament were all of the
same faith and order, and for that
reason, the same conditions should ex-
| list in this age of the world
that division among Gods people
was sinful and hindrance to the pro-
sress of Christianity. Campbell adopt
| ed the motto, Where the Bible speaks.
We will speak, and where the Bible is
silent, we will be silent" To this no
lover of the truth can reasonably OBJ
| jet. As the basis for the union of
professed followers of Christ, the Bible
alone was submitted as the only rule
of faith and practice. Whatever 1t did
rot touch by precept, example or nee
| essary influence, was to be rejected.
He maintained that human creeds were
wrong. and useless Wrong, because
God never authorized any man or set
of, men to formulate a creed for His
church. Useless, because II they con-
tain no more than Scripture, 1t was in
the Bible, and IL less than the Scrip
lures. they were insufficient. The Old
Testament church existed without any
CT eed but the Scriptures, and why can
not the church OF the New Testament
do the same? The Word OF God is the
seed of the spiritual kingdom, duke.
viii H. Human creeds are not the
product of that seed. but sprang from
| NHytaA nf mi he,
are theories and speculations about the
| Bible. rather than a setting forth of
Bible doctrines in Bible language. When
men employ other than Bible language
| to express their doctrine. then they
have a doctrine not in the Bible The
apostles and other writer's of the New
Testament had no trouble in expressing
their faith in Scripture language, then
why should we employ other than b.
BIZ terms? Gods people can be one on
| ly upon Gods doctrine expressed in
Gcd's words. IF any man speak, let
him speak as the oracles OF God" (Pe-
ter The religious world can never
unite upon a single human creed in
Christendom, and as long as men hold
| to them and seek to defend them, pray
ins for and preaching about christian
union" Is but solemn mockery Fur
thermore, 1t does not relieve the sad
state of affairs to set up the false claim
1
are already united in Sentiment" and
that organic union is not necessary :"
The church of the New Testament was
not only characterized by its oneneS IS
in sentiment, but also by a perfect or
ganic union. 1t is set forth under the
figure of a human body, which is a most
complete organism, see LIST Col. xii. 70.
in Paul's letter TO the church at Ephc-
sus, he gives the complete organic one
tess OF the church, Tph., iv. 4, 5. 6
One could as scripturally claim
that there was more than one
Lord. one God. one faith and one Holy
Spirit. as to claim there is more than
one body or church. This chapter de-
clares there is but one faith. How
then, do we have so many faiths7 The
Word OF God is the seed Of the king
dom from which the only religious or
ganism approved of God springs. This
being an incontrovertable truth, 1t is