Order in the Church of God.
By Editor
In the civil government, in the army, in the school, in the large work-shop, in the mercantile house, and, in fact, wherever men may be associated together for the purpose of advancing worldly interests, complete organization and order are regarded of first importance. Much more is order needed in the church of God, where eternal interests are at stake. What we want is, that order in the church, carried out by all its members, which, if applied to worldly things, would appear reasonable and right. We are not so unfortunate as to entertain the idea that good, sanctified common sense is at war with the things of the Spirit of God. And we long since became disgusted with the miserable pretensions of those who carry out their fanatical and distracting notions under their gauzy pretensions of being led by the Holy Spirit. Now, if the Old and New Testament teachings of organization and order in the church of God be set aside, then their peculiar course may receive full license. But, with the Bible in our hands, while we retain our senses, nothing can be plainer than that, in the battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil, we should be instructed by the lessons of order and discipline found in both Testaments. The order of the Bible is God’s order. And we affirm that God’s order is in perfect harmony with God’s Spirit, and that those who have a spirit that does not agree with the strictest organization, discipline and order of the word of God, are just so far possessed with an evil spirit. As a people, we are far from being what we may be. And, probably, the cause we labor to build up suffers more from want of united action than from all other defects. Sluggish and stagnant waters become impure, while action purifies them. Our Conferences and our churches must be put in working order. We are deeply interested in the reports from Elds. Van Horn and Pierce. These men are adapted to the work of feeding the flock of God, and setting things in order; and there is no State where such labor is more needed than in Michigan. Our young preachers cannot do this work. Our people should not call our young men from new fields. Neither should our ministers labor with the churches, unless sent to them by the Conference Committee. We need men to go throughout the churches, collect dues on our periodicals, obtain subscribers for them, solicit means from all our people who are able to take stock in our institutions, and form tract societies. And no one should go about this work unless set about it by the Conference Committee. And we would here state that we have not ministers that can be spared to do all this work. We fear that there is a premature, haphazard movement in the State of New York, that will result in no real good. When ministers have proved themselves to be in possession of moral, intellectual, spiritual, and physical power, and good judgment sufficient to wake up an interest, lead men and women to the truth, and make them into a well-organized, active church, then, and not till then, will be time for them to consider the propriety of entering other men’s labors, in visiting those churches in their Conference in which they had no part in bringing them into existence. And we protest against the practice of men, who have not raised up and built up a single church, dabbling in their style of labor with other churches. General Conference will take these matters in hand, and then our State Committees can appoint men for this work. And we would suggest that in all our State Conferences there are ten men who can do this work, where we have one minister qualified, or who has the moral courage to do it in a thorough manner. Those who labor among our churches should have a complete list of our subscribers to REVIEW, Reformer, and Instructor, and should settle with delinquents wherever they go. And they should have complete lists of stock-holders in the Publishing Association, and Health Institute, and amounts held, and should labor to the point that all our people take stock in these institutions according to each one’s ability. They should also investigate each member’s ability to pay Systematic Benevolence, and see to it, as far as consistent with a system of benevolence, that every one, who should, comes right up to the figures. This is the work to be done in our churches everywhere. Ministers, with the exception of a few aged men, who have not sufficient moral courage, and power of endurance, to do this work, nor to labor in new fields, have no business in visiting our churches.