The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-18

diloH UT the unIdlln1ulneSS Of JuddS, and that another was to take his special place in the church; but they should have remembered that they had not as yet qualified as apostles themselves. They should have remembered that whatever apostolic or special power they exercised curing Jesus ministry came to them from Him and not from the Heavenly Father that Jesus endured them as His represent atives. They should have remembered that the Master specifically told them to do nothing until after receiving the heav- enly benediction, saying, "Tarry ye at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high"
 Accrediting them with the very best of heart intentions, it was. nevertheless. ef- ftontCry on their part to select two names and to determine that one or the other must be the successor of Judas They had no authority for so doing. As for the one upon whom the lot fell. Matthias we hear nothing further of him. On the contrary, in Gods due time, He Himself brought forth Saul of Tarsus, an Israelite indeed, a Pharsee of the Pharisees who, however preVerse in his conduct, was thoroughly conscientious, and verify thought he did God service.
 St. Paul himself tells us that he was not one whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles, and that in respect to visions end relations he had more than they all. He goes back to the time when Christ appeared to him on the way to Damascus, and when He declared to Ananias, He is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name unto the Gentiles and to kings and to the people of Israel" St. Paul tells us that he found evidences that God had chosen hlm for special service, from his moth CTS womb. And such special preparation and supervision we doubt not was appli-
 cable to all of the F, even as also with John the Baptist in his work.-Acts ix | 16 Gal i, 15.
 "A Crown of Twelve Stars"
 The Lords specialization of the F apostles is variously referred to- He said, ,, Have not I chosen you 12?" And again, ''Ye shall sit on 12 thrones" Iil the symbolical book of Revelation He pie lures the church as a woman clothed with sunlight, standing over or near to the moon, which symbolizes the Jewish law covenant; and upon her head was a | crown of 12 stars, representing the F apostles of the lamb.
 Again, later on in the same book, we find pictured the church in glory beyond the veil, the bride--the New Jerusalem. or this city we read that it had g foundations, all precious stones and in the 12 apostles of the lamb We be- | lieve that we need no better evidence on the subject
 1 The recognition of successors to the
 apostles was one of the first errors after their death. Every bishop was recognized ] as one of the successors and hence as
 possession apostolic authority It was not 1 long until the words of the original 12
 were neglected. The living bishops were acknowledged as speaking with the same
 divine authority-up to date. Later great
 church councils were called, in which
 these bishops, as claimed successors of l the apostles, decided what should ana wEat should not be believed by the
 church was was and what was not orthodox.
 It can be readily seen that this exata.
 tion of false apostles (Rev. it. 9, contrary 1 to the divine arrangement opened flood. l gate of error, however well ntentionet all concerned may have been. It is sur prising that so many still hold to tn, creeGs thus formulated by pseudo-apos ties. The need of the hour is a recogni 1 ton of those facts and an abandonment
 Of all those creeds and a return to tn, l words of Jesus and the apostles and tn, prophets. Only thus can we extricat ourselves from the multiplied errors rep resented in the 600 divisions of the churcl of Christ. Only thus can we regain tn, position lost.
 The latter portion of our study, from st Matthews gospel, does not refer partic ularly to the apostles, but chiefly to al
 who become followers of Christ, and be lieve on Him through their word.