Last week, we gave proof from the New Testament that Christ was the leader of his people. We also showed the relation which true ministers sustain to their Head, to one another, and to the church. The position taken was that, as Christ's ambassador, speaking in Christ's stead, the true minister must surrender his will and judgment to Christ, and that he cannot, consistently with his high position and holy calling, yield these to any other but Christ. “One is your Master even Christ, and all ye are brethren,” is a declaration too plain to be misunderstood.
But the subject must not be left here, with the truth partly expressed. The words of Christ and his apostles relative to unity and the ordained means to secure it, and proper discipline must have a qualifying bearing upon the subject, lest unsanctified men, who neither submit their will and judgment to Christ, or to church authority, assume the gospel ministry, and divide and scatter the flock of God.
The remedy, however, for this deplorable evil is found in the proper use of the simple organization, and church order set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, and in the means God has ordained for the unity and perfection of the church. That God has appointed officers, and also other means for the good order, purity, and unity of the church is abundantly proved by such texts as 1 Cor. 12:28—30; Eph. 4:11—13. And no man can show proof that these have been removed from the church by the authority that placed them there, or give any good reasons why they should be removed.
But here we wish it distinctly understood that officers were not ordained in the Christian church to order, or to command the church, and “to lord it over God's heritage.” In the case of difference of opinion that arose in some of the primitive churches relative to circumcision and the keeping of the law of Moses, recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, the apostles and elders at Jerusalem acted as counselors, in a manner to give room for the Holy Ghost to act as Judge. The report of that blessed meeting at Jerusalem to settle a festering difficulty, commences on this wise: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” And the brethren which were from among the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria and Celicia, “rejoiced for the consolation.” Differences settled in this way frequently seem more than settled, and generally remain settled; while those disposed of by the exercise of mere church authority are seldom really settled at all.
But when we say that the ambassador for Christ cannot yield his judgment to any but Christ, we do not mean that a young minister, or any one whose ministry has been marked with serious imperfections, and even grave mistakes, should exalt his opinion above his brethren, and turn away his ear from their entreaties and admonitions, under the plea that Christ is his leader. And, on the other hand, the minister who submits his ministry to a superior, the bishop, the president, or one in authority in the church, to be sent out and directed in his ministry, cannot in the fullest sense, be Christ's ambassador. Again we repeat the golden text: “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.”
Between the two extremes we find the grand secret of unity and efficiency in the ministry and in the church of God. Our attention is called to this in a most solemn appeal from the venerable apostle Peter to the elders of his time. “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you, be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” 1 Pet. 5:1—6.
In painful contrast with the foregoing are those ecclesiastical conferences and assemblies of our time, where ministers distinguish themselves by a spirit of strife and debate, and in the use of language which would be regarded as ungentlemanly, not to say unchristian, in all other respectable associations.
We affirm that there is not a single apology in all the book of God for disharmony of sentiment or spirit in the church of God. The means are ample to secure the high standard of unity expressed in these words of Paul: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no division among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Cor. 1:10.