The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-10-10


the large audience went home fully
satisfied that he had located the one
true Church to which the Bible con
tinually refers. 1t is not too much to
assert, however, that the vast major
ity of those who heard were both
pleased and convinced No really
great man is without bis enemies, bat
1t may surely be said that Pastor Rus
sell Is gaining many friends through
out the Christian world every week
through the widespread reports Of his
sermons. The text for the occasion
was, 1.-THE Church Of the F1rst-Borna,
whose names are written In heaven"
Hebrews XII, 3D.
Church of Christ Ons-Net Many
He adverted to the Scriptural rec
ords which refer to the Church Of
Christ as one. not as many. Pastor
Russell declared that In this matter
the Church Of Rome and the Church
Of England hold aloof from many
Protestant denominations. They claim
that to recognize them as churches
would be unscriptural, since there is
but one Church Of the Living God.
The various Protestant denomination
started out with similar views, similar
theories, though today they have aban.
doned them. The Church Of England
formed an organization separate from
that of Rome, believing that the for
mer had been the one true Church but
had departed from the faith, and that
it was the duty of the faithful to rec
ognize her as Babylon, confusion.
The claim to be the true Church they
applied to themselves Similarly, Pres
byterians, Methodists, Congregational
lists, Adventists, Disciples. etc.. have
withdrawn. and many Of these origi-
nally claimed to be the one true, loyal,
faithful Church Of Christ. Today,
however. the pendulum has swung to
the other side. Moreover, the narrow
ness OF the past is rapidly giving way.
ALI are learning that to be Christian
means more than merely to be Inn
mersed: more than merely to be sprin-
kled; more than merely to believe In
the doctrine Of Election; more than
merely to believe In the doctrine OF
Free Grace: more than to believe In
the doctrine of characterization or
Consubstantiation. With this enlarge
ment of mind Christians are indeed In
danger Of losing sight Of the fact that
the True Church Is the custodian OF
"the faith once delivered to the saints"
which acknowledges ''one Lord, one
Faith, one Baptism, one God and Fa-
Their of all, and one Church Of the iiv-
ing God"
One Church in Many Churches
The key 70 the situation is found In
our Lords words: mot all that say
unto Me. Lord, Lord. shall enter into
the Kingdom of heaven" not all who
call themselves Christians. with one
UNCONVENTIONAL tag or another. are
members of the one Church, the Church
Of the F1rst-borns. mentioned in our
text AS good. rich milk is sometimes
called cream, so all the members Of
Christian denominations are sometimes
called Christians-in q complimentary
sense, because not unsympathetic with
true Christian principles. Neverthe
less, only those in all denominations
who have conformed to the conditions
required of Christian discipleship. the
sanity ones. constitute the True
Church-"The Church Of the First
born, whose names are written in
heaven"
If we had box of sawdust and scat
tered through 1t paper Of tacks I'M
til the latter were quite hidden from
view. surrounded and covered in the
sawdust, we know that we could take
a magnet and by passing 1t to and
fro amongst the sawdust, the magnet
would attract to itself every tack.
The lacks Of this illustration repre-
sent small class Of humanity, jealous
at heart for God and righteousness
The magnet represents the Gospel In
vitation which is now passed up and
down, hither and thither throughout
the civilized world. and to some ex-
tent, into the heather world.
When we convince our hearers that
the non-elect of this Age are not doom
ed to eternal torment. but win have a
blessing Of inferior degree to that Of
''the elect the effect should be to
right our r,inds and to cause Us to
think carefully and critically Of the
stringent terms Of disclpleship which
the Bible lays down a. conditions for
membership in the one true Church.
Heretofore. with the false thought
in mind that all except the Church
would be eternally tormented, we
have all shrunk from making any rea-
sonable application OF the Scripturai
texts regarding saintship, discipleship.
the becoming members Of the Church
of the First-born. This WIS partly be-
cause Of fear for ourselves, lest we
might not come up to the standard Of
saintship. but especially was Il be-
cause Of our realization that the great
mass Of humanity in Christendom, as
wen as In heather lands. came far
short Of the terms Of .diseipIeship laid
down in Gods Word. Today the mat
ter comes close home to MS all, for we
realize that many who wsrs very near