THE wise man has said, “Where the word of a king is, there is power,” what power must there be where there is the word of the King of kings and Lord of lords! By the word of the Lord the worlds were framed. Thus saith the Lord, this is the motto on our standard, the war cry of our spiritual conflict. In humility we request a “thus saith the Lord” for some things which are received and practised in the established churches of our land, and urge the reader, to search for a “thus saith the Lord” for any and every part of his faith, as contained in his creed, and never to rest secure until he can produce it. It should be the minister’s message. If he is sent of God he does not found his teachings upon his own authority, but shows the authority of his Master. Then none can gainsay him. He claims men’s attention on the ground that he has a “thus saith the Lord” for that which he utters. No matter how old or learned he may be, he has no right to affirm his words true on the authority of his long experience or education, but because it is the Lord’s saying. Joshua was a man of age and experience. In his last sermon he did not commence, “Thus saith my age,” or, “Thus say I, on my own authority,” but, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.” If an angel from Heaven preach anything else, Paul says, let him be accursed. “To the law, and to the testimony,” if we “speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in us.” The test which we apply to others we cheerfully consent to have applied to ourselves, praying that we may have help to forsake errors as we would have others do. “Thus saith the Lord” is the only authority of the church of God. When the tabernacle was pitched, what was the authority for its length and breadth? Why so many lambs and bullocks to be offered on certain days? Why the passover roasted whole and not sodden? Because God had shown Moses these things. It is so to-day with true men of God. When the apostles speak we hearken, but when you cite the authority of fathers, councils, bishops, we listen to the opinions of these great men with respect, but having done so, we deny their being authority in the church of God. Bring the concurrent consent of all tradition quite precedents, venerable with fifteen centuries of antiquity, we count it all as dross unless it harmonizes with the word of God. “Thus saith the Lord” is the most fitting rebuke for erring saints. When the man of God came to Eli, how Eli’s heart trembled when he began, “Thus saith the Lord,” and described to him the doom of his house, because he had not restrained his vile sons. David the king might have been moved to anger against Nathan for that personal parable and its application; but his heart was broken, because the prophet could say, “Thus saith the Lord.” When the heart is right, the word of God sweetly melts us, as the south wind melts the frozen rivers. When Hezekiah lay sick unto death, there was no comfort to the royal suppliant until the prophet came with, “Thus saith the Lord.” When Moses went in before Pharaoh, the words which he used were not, “The elders of Israel have bidden me say,” nor, “Our father Abraham once said, and his words are handed down to us by tradition.” Such talk would have been resisted. But he confronted the haughty monarch with, “Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go!” and it was the power of His word that rained plagues on the field of Zoan, and brought forth the captives with silver and gold. Oh! when will we learn167that it is God’s word, and not our comment on it, that saves sinners? The words of the text are not to be despised without the offender suffering the severest penalty. Samuel came to Saul with a “thus saith the Lord,” and bade him destroy the Amalekites, but he saved the best of the cattle and sheep, and brought home Agag. What was the result? His kingdom was taken from him, and this calamity happened to him for not obeying the letter of God’s command. And, if any church on earth, after light has been given, shall continue to walk contrary to the word of God, as Saul was put away from the kingdom, so will that church be put away from the Lord of hosts. My brethren, I wish we trembled more at the word of God. I fear many treat the words of God as mere matters of opinion. But when we ask these “reverends” for a “thus saith the Lord” for their teaching, what do they do? They hand us a discipline. We take first their prayer book and read in the baptismal service that when children are to be sprinkled, godfathers and godmothers promise for them that they shall renounce the devil, and all his works, with all covetous desires, and they shall keep all of God’s holy will and commands, and walk in the same all the days of their lives. Where is the “thus saith the Lord” for proxies in baptism? We believe it to be a personal matter. First believe, then be baptized, is the scriptural order. It is an impossibility for infants to believe in Christ. The babe is sprinkled and publicly declared regenerated. Now where is there a “thus saith the Lord” for the belief that a sprinkled infant is regenerated? Will any one find such a passage of Scripture? or, in plainer terms, will some one find a text of Scripture proving that water baptism makes an unconscious babe a member of Christ, any more than it was before baptism? For the rites of confirmation, absolution, extreme unction, and a host of other presumptuous ceremonies, practiced by Romanists, and others, we want a “thus saith the Lord,” before we can give them any credence. I rejoice in the thought that he that is to come, will soon come and reign. Have any of you who read this a hope of Heaven which will not stand the test of “thus saith the Lord”? What are you resting upon? Is it something you felt when excited at prayer-meeting? or during the preaching of a sermon? That excitement will not bear you up in death, or insure translation. Remember, when God terribly shakes the earth, he will also shake all false foundations. Keeping Sunday because the fathers did, or believing in the immortality of the soul, or anything else for which there is not a “thus saith the Lord,” is foolishness. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.