The Apostolic Church

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Apr 8, 1902

The Apostolic Church

In his Gospel, Luke gave an account “of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,” and in the Acts of the Apostles the same writer gave an account of what Jesus continued to do and to teach. In the former record we learn what Jesus did while here upon earth in his own individual body; in the latter record we learn what he did here upon earth in his body which is the church. And the experience of the church in the time of the apostles was never intended to be an exceptional one. It is the natural and normal experience of the church of Christ when he is given his true place as the head of the church. The giving witness with great power to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the healing of the sick, the ministry of angels to deliver from the wrath of man, the rapid growth of the number of the believers,—all these experiences are but so many evidences of the presence of Jesus with his people, working in them both to will and to do.

It was because some arose who were not content to win disciples to Jesus, but sought rather “to draw away disciples after them,” that there came “a falling away,” and the experiences of the apostolic church gradually ceased. It is the work of the gospel message now to remove the cause of the falling-away, to restore the pure gospel of Jesus, the indwelling Saviour, and thus to open

the way for the same experiences as of old. That church in which these experiences are genuinely renewed will thereby prove to the world that it has the true apostolic succession. It is not a question of an unbroken line of human descent and ordination to the ministry of the gospel, but it is the simple question of divine empowerment and ordination by the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Of the church in its experiences when the gospel of Christ was taught in its purity, John wrote as follows: “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” The power of the church to win victories for the truth does not depend upon having costly places of worship, or in following an elaborate ritual which appeals chiefly to the senses, but upon the simple power of the truth as it is in Jesus, when the word is preached “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” The world needs just such a gospel as this preached in just this way. Weary hearts need to be strengthened, tempted souls need to be delivered, those in the bondage of evil habits need to be set at liberty. All this can be accomplished to the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom in the earth when his people are willing to cease their dependence upon the flesh, cease copying the example of those who brought about the falling-away, cease trying to supply the lack of the inward power by multiplying the outward forms, and be willing to let the Lord work in his own simple way to his own glory. May the Lord hasten the day when we shall see more evidence among us of the true apostolic succession.