THE Apostle Paul, in his two letters to the Church of Corinth, expresses the tenderness of a father towards his children. This did not cause him to flatter them in their sins. On the contrary his love to them caused him to reprove, rebuke and exhort them in their unscriptural conduct. He did this from faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and their souls. The utmost candour is used by him in exposing their departures from the principles and doctrines of the gospel which he had preached among them. He tells them that he did this with great grief and many tears. But being moved by the Holy Ghost, His were the thoughts and words written by the Apostle, and not merely his own. Paul’s care for all the Churches was a very outstanding trait of his character as a minister of the gospel, and the salvation of immortal souls was that for which he laboured so vehemently. He was a man of one aim. That aim was to spread the knowledge of Christ among the heathen, so that they might be saved. As he writes:—“For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward” (2 Cor. i. 12). But let us come to our text, and (I.) Let us consider when and for what reasons the Lord’s people are commanded to separate from a Church; and (II.) God’s promise to such as will obey.
There are about forty years since the words of our text made a deep impression upon the writer’s mind. It was evident even then to all who loved God’s Word, and the affairs of His Church, that the Free Church of Scotland had made an ominous beginning of departing from the infallibility of the Scriptures, and that she was exerting all her energy to have her Subordinate Standards changed. This was causing many searchings of hearts among the godly within her pale. They found themselves in the same circumstances with the godly in the time of Hosea, to whom the command was given:—”Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts” (Hosea ii. 2.) The question was agitating many, and was repeatedly asked the writer: “Should we not separate ourselves from the communion of a Church which shows so little respect to God’s Word, and to her Subordinate Standards?” This moved the writer to search the Scriptures for light on the path of duty. In reading carefully the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, it was observable that there were many things in that Church which were anti-Scriptural and disorderly.
(1) There were divisions (schisms) among them.
Let us notice a few of them. There were divisions (schisms) among them. They were divided into four parties; each contending for its own leader. The Apostle sharply reproves them for this:—”Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? . . . Ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” This deplorable condition of affairs in the Church at Corinth, against which the Holy Ghost spoke so sharply and in very condemnatory terms, was being repeated in the Free Church, almost in the same form. She was divided into two parties, viz.: The Rainy party, and the Constitutional party, led by Drs. Begg and Kennedy, and the Rev. A. MacColl. Almost every one said, “I am of the Rainy party; I am of the Constitutional party.” So far the resemblance corresponded exactly, and might be treated exactly in the same way. This difference, however, did appear, that schism in the Free Church was caused by men who were endeavouring to destroy the very foundations, and that those who contended for the Constitution of the Church deserved praise. The infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible were being assailed, and an effort to change the Church’s relation to her former Constitution and practice was being made by Dr. Rainy and his followers, so that no alternative was left for those who would not accept of such God-dishonouring and soul-destroying changes, but that they should “contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” Drs. Begg and Kennedy were doing their best, like the Apostle, to exhort and reform the other party to cease their schism, and to return to the former unity of faith and practice in the Free Church. As the Apostle did not say one word at the similar contention in Corinth about separation, but did his very utmost to restore unity, the writer came to the conclusion that the time had not yet come for separation from the Free Church. He came to this conclusion, not because he was so terrified at the mere sound of that word—”Separatist”—as some have feigned to be since; but because he was convinced that the Word of God did not demand it at that stage.
(2) There was also a scandalous case of incest in the Church of Corinth.
There was also a scandalous case of incest in the Church of Corinth. The inspired word states it thus:—”It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from you.” The remedy demanded by the Word of God in this case was excommunication. It did not ask such as disapproved of the laxity of discipline to separate from the Church then. Laxity of discipline was becoming notorious in the Free Church. Some within her pale were puffed up on account of the supposed learning and ability of men who were promulgating infidel views about the inspiration of the Scriptures and many of the fundamental doctrines of the faith. Instead of excommunicating these infidels, they were placed in Divinity chairs in her Colleges with the consequence that the minds of the students—the future ministers of the Church—were filled with their pernicious doctrines. Still the Constitution of the Free Church remained intact, so that there was a hope left yet, that the efforts of the few faithful men who did what they could to purge the Church of these enemies of God’s truth, might, by the grace of God, be successful. This case demanded prayer and patience, but not separation there and then.
(3) Another serious matter requiring speedy correction in the Church of Corinth was, the extraordinary manner in which the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in her.
Another serious matter requiring speedy correction in the Church of Corinth was, the extraordinary manner in which the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated in her. The Holy Ghost reproveth this conduct as to this matter by saying:—”When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper. For in eating, every one taketh before the other his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What! have ye no houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said: Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.” In this reproof we find the Holy Ghost bringing before them the real manner in which they should celebrate the Lord’s supper, and condemns them for partaking of other food or drink in the place of public worship. It clearly taught them that no food was to be brought there, but the bread and wine used in the sacrament. This should have put an end for ever to the feasts of love used at that time in the Church. These feasts could never have had the sanction of the Apostles; but they were continued until they were forbidden by a Council of the whole Church about 250 A.D. Let us hope that this was not true of the Church of Corinth. Notwithstanding these disorders, there is not a word said about separation.
(4) Another very serious error in doctrine had to be reproved in that Church.
Another very serious error in doctrine had to be reproved in that Church. Some taught them that the dead would not be raised. The Apostle reminds them that he had preached to them that God, the Father, raised up Christ from the dead, and that this fact lay at the very foundation of saving faith. He, in a long and closely reasoned argument, proves that the resurrection of Christ assures that all men shall be raised again on the last day. But he says not a word here yet about separation. So we come to the conclusion that neither schism, if not persisted in; nor most serious irregularities in dispensing the Lord’s supper, unless continued after due exhortation; nor fornication, if discipline should not be neglected; nor fundamental errors in doctrine unless stubbornness in the same becomes manifest, were a real cause of separation from a Church. We saw that every scriptural effort should be used to purge the Church of such errors before the final step of separation from her communion should be taken. These efforts were then being put forth in the Free Church. These considerations caused us to conclude that the time had not then come to separate from that Church; but on account of the words of our text, we fully made up our minds that such a step would have to be taken by and by.
A serious examination of this Second Epistle revealed that the efforts of Paul to correct the evils that had crept into the Church at Corinth had a very salutary effect in bringing about a real reformation. He refers to it in the following glowing terms:—”For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire! . . . . In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” But it is quite evident that there were some in that Church who did not repent of their evil doings; for Paul says again:—”Lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many who have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.” So that we are led to the conclusion that, although some in that Church truly repented and removed the evils rebuked by the Apostle, others did not. Human nature being what it is, the very fact that their sins were reproved would cause them to indulge more boldly in them than they did before. Taking a broad view of the contents of these two Epistles, this must have been the effect of Paul’s efforts to restore purity and peace. It seems also that those who did repent of their sins held too much fellowship with those who persisted in them. We gather this from the fact that the context makes clear that what they were to separate from was, a mixing of holy and profane things together.
The Apostle had warned them before of the danger of such unholy fellowship by saying:—”A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” He had set an example of this in Ephesus, as we read:—”But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spoke evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples” (Acts xix. 9.) He now commands the disciples at Corinth to do the same. The immediate preceding context makes plain what they were to withdraw from:—”Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? . . . Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.”
Some Divines would restrict the above to marriages between the heathen and them who believed. Seeing the Apostle wrote concerning such marriages differently from the injunction of our text, that would greatly limit the meaning the words convey. He wrote about such marriages thus:—”If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away; and a woman which hath a husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.”
Others again hold that the above command referred to keeping separate from the unbelieving world. This meaning is conformable to God’s call in the gospel to every sinner—to come out of the ways and fellowship of the world that lies in wickedness; but the command in our text was to separate from dangerous and disgraceful practices within the Church, and was addressed to believers. The Apostle wrote elsewhere about the duty of believers as regards intercourse with the men of the world:—”I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators of this world: yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.” He then places his finger on the separating line:—”But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.” When men who were received as believers and brethren into the Church, proved by their conduct that they were of the world and walked according to the course of this world, they are strictly forbidden to have any fellowship with such men. Such men in Corinth had mixed up in the Church, the world and the flesh and the devil. All this was done in the name of Christianity; and there seemed to be no way to bring them to order, so that separation became a necessity. The wheat and the chaff had to be separated.
Let us now consider the bearing our immediate context has had and still has on the duty of Christians in very similar circumstances in our beloved country. Atheists have been in the world since Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Such men did their utmost to undermine the Bible and its doctrine, but they were doing so outside the Church of Christ. About the middle of the last century, men arose in Germany within the Church who made a most determined attack upon the infallibility and absolute inerrancy of the Bible. These men laid claim to great scholarship, and wrote elaborate treatises against the belief hitherto held of the Bible and its doctrines. They did this by using the same words and methods of attack found in the writings of their predecessors, Voltaire, Tom Paine, etc. But however incredible it might have been to the Churches then, that men holding the same views with those Atheists would, in so short a time be, not only tolerated in the Church, but raised to the highest places of honour, it became a fact. These men were made Professors in the Theological Halls of Germany. Students from the Free Church of Scotland and from other Churches went to Germany to finish their course in Divinity under these men on account of the supposed, profound learning of which they were possessed. These students imbibed with avidity their infidel views; while others read their productions at home and were infected with the same plague. Professors and ministers in the Free Church began to air these infidel views; because Satan had got men to believe, that these doubts about the Bible were always a certificate that such doubts were the outcome of great learning and penetration of mind. Almost every one of these infidels, who took a more daring step in criticising the Bible than any of his companions, was sure to have a D.D. conferred on him, and if any vacancy occurred, was placed in a Professor’s chair in one or another of the Divinity Halls of the Free Church. This made manifest that the Free Church was determined to destroy the integrity and infallibility of God’s Book. Side by side were to be found men, who believed in the Bible as a God-breathed book, and infidels who repudiated this orthodox doctrine. The same thing was true in all the Courts of the Church. The Apostle’s pertinent question applies exactly in this case:— “What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” The effect of this extraordinary conduct has been, that the majority of the people ceased to consider the Bible as inspired, have become infidels, and have given up religion altogether. Congregations in which a thousand worshipped forty years ago, cannot muster two hundred to-day. Surely the end of this will be a bitter day.
Paul asks another question:— “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” In those Churches social meetings are held at which a minister begins generally with praise and prayer. They proceed then to sing vain songs; and in many of these gatherings the dance, playing of cards and even boxing has been indulged in. What is this but an endeavour to show concord between Christ and Belial? That men who profess to be the servants of Christ should act so, is a proof of Mr. Spurgeon’s statement:— “A clerical sycophant is only fit to be a scullion in the devil’s kitchen,” especially where the “cup of tea” is used. We can easily imagine that, should the inmates of an asylum were to begin a service in the name of Christ, they might forget themselves and so end by singing songs, etc., but that men in their sober senses would do so, shows the utmost irreverence. All such meetings are held in the name of Christianity. But is it Christianity? What has Christianity to do also with bazaars and sales of work? Is this not turning the house of God into a den of thieves? as our Lord said to sellers and buyers in the Temple of Jerusalem. This is certainly mixing darkness and light, unrighteousness with righteousness. Every one can see that as the one element comes in the other departs. So darkness prevails and light has departed. Since these men are ignorant of the spiritual joy with which the Holy Ghost by the gospel fills the hearts of true believers, they must have an occasional feast for the flesh on the husks which the swine eat. What is all this but the world taking on the name of Christianity? Some of whom we thought well at one time endeavour now to excuse such unchristian practices, while others who did come out and became separate have already gone back to those beggarly elements and seem to see nothing wrong in them.
At this year’s General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland a motion was brought forward craving that the Assembly should take steps to have social meetings and sales of work removed out of the Church. But notwithstanding that a petition signed by forty-nine members of one of her congregations was tabled to back up the motion, it was not considered. The decision was that they should pass away from it. We appreciate very much the efforts of these men to purge the Church of such pernicious practices, and we hope that other congregations will come to their assistance. We consider it is high time for them to do so.
When a motion was brought forward to extend the right hand of fellowship to the Y.M.C.A., an amendment was also moved craving the Assembly to have nothing to do with the Y.M.C.A. One of the Professors said that “he was not prepared to support the amendment on the ground that he did not think the matter had been sufficiently discussed by the Assembly or that the facts were sufficiently well known for the Assembly to frame sound judgment upon the matter.” He further said that “when the Association was formed no provision was made for games,” but that “more recently card playing, promiscuous dancing, and theatre going had been sanctioned. But more alarming still was the attitude of the Y.M.C.A. against the Scriptures, as evinced by their responsibility for what was known as the Shorter Bible.” We desire to thank this Professor for his candour in exposing so much of the carnal practices and anti-scriptural work of the Y.M.C.A. But the position he took up in not supporting the amendment amazes us exceedingly. Surely, after making such extraordinary charges against that Association, his only logical and reasonable duty was to support to his very utmost the amendment. The man must have lost his bearings entirely in this matter when he could have come to the conclusion that he should acquiesce in the motion that the Free Church should associate with that body. How has the mighty fallen!
The infidelity, and the mixing of holy and profane things, and the passing of a new creed which completely separated the Free Church of Scotland from her former standards, caused us in 1893 to come out of her and to be separated from her. In doing so we carried all the doctrines and principles of the original Free Church with us, and we endeavour to hold them still. We had the command in our text as our warrant in doing so, and have it still in keeping separate from the present Free Church. We have good reason for being thankful to the Lord that He led us out of that fellowship, and while things remain as they are, we should take good care lest we may be again entangled in the yoke of bondage. Certainly the prospects of reformation in the Churches of Scotland are not promising. May the Lord bring back the Churches of the Reformation to the faith and practice of the gospel, is our prayer.
II. Let us now consider the Lord’s promise to such as will obey this command.
We have obeyed, in much imperfection, the Lord’s command by coming out from the Free Church in 1893, on account of the facts stated above and many other causes which are not mentioned.
Have we any ground for believing that the Lord has taken a fatherly care of us since then? Yes, truly in many ways. He has called effectually many in our congregations into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ since then. We record this fact to the praise of the glory of His grace and not for any self or vain glory. Some of His own people got, not only great reviving in their souls, but also strength of body then, which, to some extent, continues with them to this day. This was also true of many who have gone to their everlasting rest. The joy of the Lord is the strength of His people in every age, and let it be said to His glory, we have had much of this joy in our waiting on Him.
Let us consider what inestimable privilege it is to be a child of God? To enjoy peace with God, the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, is more to a poor sinner saved by grace than to be the son or daughter of a king or emperor. What are such dunghill honours when compared to the honour of being the Lord’s children, and consequently heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ? We ought to value very highly this privilege, and that it raises those who have it above all the mighty titles and honours of the men of the world. All these titles and honours vanish away for ever at death, and kings, lords, and beggars are the same in the grave, and they will appear before the great white throne without any such distinction; but the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty will then appear in glory. They may be and often are poor and despised in the world, and may be considered as the offscouring of all things, but they are precious in the sight of God. Oh to be one of them!
But let no one think that we mean that all who are called Free Presbyterians have this most blessed privilege on that account. No; for we cannot be the sons and daughters of God without being born again and without repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. All sinners within the hearing of God’s call in the gospel, are commanded to come out from the world that lies in the wicked one, and especially from the religious world, of whom we wrote above, and to separate from them. For this world, of whom our blessed Lord Jesus said in His intercessory prayer in John xvii., “I pray not for the world,” is in every generation, and all who are saved do separate themselves and keep separate from that world. This world for whom our Lord did not pray is lost for ever. So we beseech poor sinners to have nothing to do with its fellowship and ways.
We heard that a young man belonging to the congregation of the eminent Rev. John Kennedy, Redcastle, called on Mr. Kennedy before leaving for Glasgow to ask him who of the ministers of that city he should go to hear? Mr. Kennedy gave him the addresses of four or five ministers’s churches, and told him to go to hear each one of them, and then to choose the one who made his tether shortest in sin. This was a good advice, and should be attended to by all who desire to be saved. For ministers, who lead their people into sin, and who encourage them, and by their example drive them from all seriousness about their need of forsaking sin, are not the ministers of Jesus Christ, but the servants of Satan. So, let poor sinners beware of the awfulness of living and dying in the ways and companionship of the world. For the wrath of God rests upon all who are yet in their sins, and there is only One who can deliver a poor sinner from being under it for ever; that One is Jesus Christ. “A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”
A SAD CONFESSION.—Dr. Marcus Dods, a well known biblical critic, left behind him the following sad confession:—”I am a backslider. I used to enjoy prayer, but for years I have found myself dumb. Of course, one can always make a prayer, but prayer in a sense of asking for things has not been in my case a proved force. I pray now, not because my own experience gives me any encouragement, but because of Christ’s example and command. I wish I could live as a spectator through the next generation to see what they are going to make of things. There will be a grand turn-up in matters theological, and the Churches won’t know themselves fifty years hence. It is to be hoped some little rag of faith may be left when all is done. For my own part I am sometimes entirely under water and see no sky at all.”
THE CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR.—It is one thing to have armour in the house, and another thing to have it buckled on. The Christian’s armour is made to be worn; no laying it down or putting it off till we have done our warfare and finished our course. The soldier comes into the field with no arms but what his General commands; it is not left to everyone’s fancy to bring what weapons he pleases, this would breed confusion. Look narrowly whether the armour ye wear be the workmanship of God or no. Rust will soon spoil the best armour, and negligence as well as gross sins give grace its bane.—Gurnall.