The Church Militant

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 30, 1872

The Church Militant.

The administration of Christian churches sometimes irresistibly reminds us of the way in which some of our armies were handled by their generals during the war. There was most abundant supply of all kinds of munitions. There was rearing of elaborate defenses. The troops were incessantly drilled. The whole army resembled a splendid machine, every part adjusted on most scientific principles, every surface brilliantly polished, but no fire under the boilers! It was a grand army, but it never struck the enemy! Its own munitions and garnitures and preparations were too much for it.

The action of many ecclesiastical bodies seems to have a similar character. There is endless discussion of forms of doctrine and worship. There is careful nursing of denominational strength. All the internal relations of the church are elaborately adjusted. But the people perishing in misery in our great cities, the heathen at home, and the heathen abroad, are hardly touched at all.

An army is good for nothing except as it fights and conquers. A church is good for nothing except as it wins men to Christ, and raises them into better and happier ways of living.—Christian Union.