| Show FROM LAYMAN TO PREACHER county miss may za 1896 an open letter to rev mr sargeant and any others whom it may concern dear sir you are scrip torian enough reasonable enough and have honesty ot of purpose enough to take the scriptures tor for what they say and I 1 hope you are liberal enough to accord to others what you doubtless claim for yourself we are answerable answerably to god lor for the manner in which we conduct ourselves here in this lite and we should be able to give a reason for the hope within us this I 1 now propose to do in as humble meek way as I 1 can the eternal truths of god are binding on his creatures it matters not ho how w or by whom they are imparted this I 1 am sure you will admit in other words these truths do not depend on the character of those who present them but it is not likely that a notoriously corrupt set of men would propagate an exact pattern of the gospel as taught by the savior and practiced by his immediate followers that not one scriptural argument can be used successfully against it it seems strange that any one can overlook as plain declarations as are found all along through the new testament that are parts and parcels of the gospel and if any of it is binding on us surely the whole of it is As to apostles prophets etc see the twenty eighth verse twelfth chapter of first corinthians which reads thus and god hath set some in the church first apostles secondly prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles then gifts gift s ot of healings helps governments diversities of tongues in the foregoing part orthis of this chapter these elements are compared to the members of a mans body As every member of the body is nee necessary to its completeness so also are these elements which god agod placed in the church necessary to its completeness if the human body was robbed of its seeing heating hearing reasoning and baibus a leg and an arm m what remained would be a mere wreck and a burden on any community so in like manner when the church is shorn of apostles prophets miracles gitts of healings and diversities of tongues only teachers helps and governments remain the five most potent elements being gone what are to keet keep teachers helps and governments in place ab sol 1 y nothing K out but human wisdom we have all seen and are constantly seeing seema that human wisdom is so frail and uncertain that the wisest ot of earth differ as widely as the poles when dealing with the church and its ordinances and hence the diversity of opinion and creeds among men no two denominations agree and yet all profess to be guided by the same book it is quite an easy matter for one talented individual to prove another wrong in some of his tenets and equally easy for the second to prove the first wrong in some of his indeed a close observer will see that no two leading minds of the same sect agree all the way through while not a few have no opinion of their own and are carried about by every wind of doctrine jesus said after commanding his apostles to go out and preach that certain signs should follow the believer as a confirmation of its truths but our sectarian friends finding themselves destitute of these manifestations gravely tell us that they were only given in in that day and age to establish the gospel in the minds ot of the people and when that was done they were no longer necessary the fallacy of this supposition will be apparent when we reflect that the generations of men that succeeded the apostolic age would be just st as unbelieving and it would baliet take aust as much testimony to convince them of the truths of christianity as it did their ancestors ce it is true chev had the written word but unless the holy ghost were given to guide them into all truth and keep them in the unity of the faith by the same miraculous would split asunder divide aad and sub divide as we see the world 0 of christendom today in the absence of that potent power displayed by the office work of the holy ghost men are left to grovel in darkness guided by hur human narl wisdom alone god did not have one plan of salvation then and another now we are ta taught bt that he is the same yesterday to today ulay and forever without variableness or shadow of turning and man is the same game sinful unbelieving creature he ever was to put the matter forever at rest the apostle paul says ephesians 14 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers and if we ask why this was done the twelfth verse answers for the perfecting of the saints are the saints perfect it not then these officers are still necessary for the work of the ministry are the ministry all working in line it not these officers are still necessary for the edifying of the body of christ it the body ot of christ the church is properly edified why this wran wrangling ling among the various sects and if it be further asked how long these apostles prophets etc are to continue the next verse answers till we all ah come in the unity of the faith etc has that been accomplished if northen not then these potent elements of strength that god placed in the church are necessary there the disagreement and strife over the doctrines of the bible by the world of christendom has done and is doing more to make infidels and skeptics than all other causes combined no 10 manby human wisdom alone however great his ability aveo eve did or ever can understand his whole duty as to the plan of life and salvation because the natural man cannot conceive them lor for they are spiritually ly discerned the holy ghost alone can do this office work our savior promised that he the holy ghost would guide into all truth and show things to come you will perhaps say that the world of christen dom is in possession of the spirit it so how bow comes it that all differ so widely in ill doctrine something is radically wrong somewhere what is it I 1 think you are di discreet creet enough not to charge these diversities of opinions to the office work of the holy spi spirit it no a thousand times no the fault is in man jesus said if any roan man wilt will do his will he shall know ol of the doctrine etc do you know the doctrine you propagate to be the mind and will of god the methodists presbyterians rians catholics catholic and the hundreds of other sects would be likely to give about the same answer to their opinions as you would to yours it the reflective mind could take in all these conflicting theo neshe would stand aghast with amazement and the more so when told that all professed to be guided by the same books book the world of christendom say that no communication from heaven has beba given lor for the last eighteen hundred years and gravely assert that it is not necessary that the bible contains all that is necessary for mans salvation etc if this were the case all would see eye to eye and speak the same thing but as this is not the case it is evident that the written word alone is not sufficient the office work of the holy ghost is to guide into all hand band in making known to the people in some tangible unmistakable way what is their whole duty this must be done by revelation because it cannot be done in any other way and hence the necessity of prophets in the church and a careful reading of the new testament and especially the epistle of paul will show that prophets were as common in the church in those days as any other officers the savior said to the scribes and pharisees Pharis ees upon whom for their wickedness he had been pronouncing 11 cing woes boes as the children aronou of them that killed the prophets wherefore behold I 1 send unto you prophets 1 I etc matthew 2334 23 34 indeed the spirit of christ is the spirit of prophecy and the savior said if a man have not the spirit of christ be is none of his hence we find numerous instances ef ct prophets in the new testament men not well versed in its teachings some times quote the following to prove that prophets are no longer necessary necess arv the law and the prophets were until john ap etc this evidently means under the law dispensation when prophets were indispensably necessary to point to the tbt gospel dispensation and after that dispensation pensa tion was ushered in by the coming of christ prophets were still necessary else they would not have been given zacharias chanas Za was filled with the holy ghost and prophesied etc luke i 1 67 paul prophesied peter prophesied and in tact fact all the apostles had the 7 spirit of prophecy and often exercised that gift agabus was a prophet set see acts 21 10 lo ii 11 in the last days davs both men and women were to prophecy see acts 2 judas and silas were prophets acts 1532 the apostle paul often in his epistles speaks of prophets see first corinthian 12 also 14 15 24 30 31 32 39 the above quotations are surely enough to show to any reader of the new testa testament that prophets were as common in the primitive church as any other church officer to forever settle the matter to all bible students we are told the testimony ot of jesus is the spirit of prophecy rev ig 19 io 10 we ask what is the testimony ot of jesus all must admit that the follower lol lower ot of christ a true christian envery in very dead dee dand and not merely a church member has h as that testimony and if occasion requires he or she can prophesy respectfully H P DOTSON |
