The Mission of the Church
CHRIST is the light of the world. He invites all who are in darkness to come to him. Christ is the righteousness of God. He invites all who are in sin to ask and obtain. Christ is life. He invites all who are subject to death to come and live. He is the Fountain of all we need, an open Fountain, flowing full and free. The Mission of the Church.
The Rev. James Brand, D.D., says in the Hartford Seminary Record, June–August, that the church must always have a twofold mission, namely, to save souls, and to act upon the environment of souls, or to improve the condition of society. All of which and more is evidently written to justify present conditions. The one and sole mission of the church of Christ is to reveal Christ to the world. It is thus stated by the apostle Peter: "But ye [the church] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises [margin, "virtues"] of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9. We reveal Christ when he is revealed in us. Gal. 1 : 15, 16. We are then epistles of Christ. We are to lift him up before the world in all his beauty, and he will "draw" the people, he will save the souls, he will affect society. John 12 : 32. The saving, the moulding, is the effect of the revelation, or lifting up of Christ, in word, in conduct, in renewed characters, through which the light of Christ shines. The sole mission of the church is to reveal Christ even as he revealed the Father. He will care for the rest. Again and again has the book of Genesis been declared a fable; the narratives of its history and events are said to be allegories, traditions, myths. The account of the flood is not considered reliable, and the Bible account of the confusion of tongues is placed in the same category. Theological professors and ministers, supposedly of the gospel, have "apologized" for the Bible, and between its open enemies and professed friends many have thought it would go down. But a few staunch, intelligent, faithful souls held firm confidence in the old Book. The later years are confirming their faith. The buried cities, the clay histories, the hieroglyphic records, are yielding up their treasures and speaking in known tongues. And what is their testimony?—Why, they confirm the Book. The meaning of the original name of Babylon—Bab-ilu—is the gate of the god Ilu, or the gate of heaven. Such the wicked worshipers of self thought it would be. But God in mercy confounded their work, and "they left off to build," and were scattered throughout all the world. The Lord therefore called their work babal, confusion. And confusion is what man's work has ever proved when working contrary to God's plan. Babel and Babylon have signified ever since just what they literally meant, confusion. Its builders named it what they hoped it would be; God called it what it actually was. Borsippa, a town near Babylon, means, in the idiom of the Assyrian tongue, "the tower of tongues." Babylon is often designated by a symbolical name, ideographically written, meaning "the town of the root of languages." Borsippa is known by another name, meaning "the town of the dispersion of the tribes." These are taken from Lenormant's "Manual of the East," vol. 1, p. 24 (Asher & Co., London). Lenormant remarks, "These names seem almost like medals struck to commemorate the ancient tradition of the plains of Shinar." But the Book does not need them; they may help an honest though skeptical mind. The doubter at heart, though convinced against his will by these, will seek other supposed imperfections and doubt still. The basis of true faith is a heart to do God's will.