THE
VISIBILITY OF THE CHURCH
"But these people," it is
alleged of the saints of the most high God, "do not
believe in a visible organized church.'' This again is an
untrue statement. We teach that there are both an
invisible and a visible phase to the church of God. Since
it is the Lord who "works all in all the members,
" this work being accomplished through the
instrumentality of the Holy Spirit, the church must be
invisible. Thus through the Holy Spirit, God organizes,
builds, and adds members to the church, calls and
qualifies its officers for their responsible work. As
regards its living head, its door of entrance, its eternal
foundation, the spiritual life that animates it, the
operation of the Spirit in the distribution of its gifts,
and in many other respects, the church is invisible. We
are glad to say, however, that this glorious temple built
by an invisible God is a visible church. She is " the
light of the world," "a city that is set on a
hill" (Matt. 5: 14). As the wind, though an invisible
power, produces effects that are perceptible to the eye;
so the hand of God, though invisible to man, builds and
organizes a church that is seen of all.
Salvation constitutes us members of
God's church; and while, as before stated, the operation
of the Spirit in salvation is invisible, the effects
produced in the individual will be visibly manifested in
his life. All who become members are new creatures, walk
in newness of life, and serve him in newness of spirit.
This great change is seen by all. The saved man is a
living epistle, "known and read of all men," a
"gazing stock," a "spectacle [theater] unto
the world, to angels, and to men." Others "see
his good works." Such individuals are visible to all
men as real Christians—as members of the church of God.
Thus the membership in the divine church is visible
membership. Every member is known by his fruits. Though
organized by the invisible Spirit, the church is composed
of men and women who are as visible now as they were when
they were in the kingdom of darkness.
While the kingdom of d is
substantially the same as is the church, the former
relates only to the spiritual leaven and unseen power of
God that transforms the hearts of men into righteousness
and fills them with "all joy and peace in believing.
" Hence it " cometh not with observation."
The church, on the contrary, is the assembly of the saved,
the household of God. It includes the body no less than
"the hidden man of the heart." "Know ye not
that your bodies are the members of Christ ? " 1 Cor.
6: 15 "Christ, " "his body, " and
"the church" are all identical in 1 Cor. 12: 12,
13, 27, 28. It is in our physical bodies that we compose
the assembly of God. This shows that she is a visible
ecclesia. A house, a vine, a family, an army with banners,
a light, the moon, the mother, and a city set on a
hill—these are the most common figures of the church;
and all these denote visibility.
The saints forsake not the
assembling of themselves together. Wherever a number of
people fully accept Christ, whether in a country place or
in a city, they assemble together for worship. These
assemblies constitute local churches, geographically
distributed throughout t h e world. All such assemblies
are visible. Surely Barnabas and Paul, who assembled a
whole year with the church at Antioch (Acts 11: 26), did
not gather together with something they saw not— with
unseen spirits. Saints, as an assembly, worship God. This
worship consists in prayer, song, exhortation, testimony,
praise, and preaching. All such meetings and public
devotions are visible.
The saving effects of the gospel
ministered through the church are visible. God calls and
qualifies certain persons to preach this gospel. Their
preaching produces joy, comfort, and peace in the hearts
of believers. They express this in song, praise, and
spiritual worship. Sinners are melted and under pungent
conviction fall at the public altar, cry for mercy, and
find deliverance. All this is visible.
God is a God of order. Through the
Holy Spirit he organizes every local assembly raised up
through the preaching of the gospel. He sets the members
in the body as it pleases him. As before stated, this work
is invisible, but these members who constitute the body
are visible. Its ministry—evangelists, pastors, and
teachers —are visible. They feel the call of God upon
them and exercise in their respective callings. Their call
and work is recognized by the church in which they labor,
and they are publicly ordained by the laying on of hands.
Whether they be classed as local or traveling
elders—called pastors and evangelists—their work is
visible. Deacons are chosen and ordained to look after the
temporal affairs of the church. Their work also is
visible.
Then again, the ministry are placed
in authority. They are ambassadors for Christ. The chief
shepherd and governor of his people has placed
"governments" in this church (1 Cor. 12: 28).
These are vested in the holy ministry. As ensamples to the
flock, they teach, warn, admonish, rebuke, and execute his
Word. To them he says, " Hear the Word at my mouth
and give them warning from me. " " Them that
sin, rebuke before all. " To the church the following
charge is given: "Remember them that have the rule
over you, men that speak unto you the Word of God. "
" Obey them that have the rule over you and submit
yourself to them. " Heb. 13: 7, 17, R. V. This is
government, and it is visible.
And again, in the exercise and
manifestations of the gifts placed in the church there is
visibility. The Lord has placed in he church many
spiritual gifts—gifts of exhortation, preaching, wisdom
and knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discerning of
spirits, tongues, etc. All these are visibly manifested.
So the church of God stands out
before us the most beautiful, visible institution on
earth.
Sects, then, are not necessary to
make the church visible. In this respect they are
worthless. This theory is generally circulated by
sectarians in defense of their own rival organizations,
that the constitution of sects is essential to the visible
manifestation of the church. A sect is a portion "cut
off." Is there any sense, reason, or divine truth in
the teaching that an invisible body is made visible by
cutting off a portion of it: None of the present sects
came into existence until the third century. Was God's
church an invisible thing on earth for nearly three
hundred years? Who can affirm that the multitude of sects
have made visible the church of God, from which they are
severed by their particular creeds? We affirm in the
presence of the Judge of all men, with a clear
consciousness of his truth to support our proposition,
that the creation of the sects of Christendom have had
exactly the opposite effect. Their traditions have made
"the Word of God of none effect." Their
confusing creeds, heaps of rubbish, and interminable
machinery have utterly subverted and well nigh hidden
the church that Jesus builded. As the historian D'Aubigne
says, in the third century an "earthly
association," "an external organization,"
was gradually substituted for " the interior and
spiritual communion which is the essence of the religion
of God." Then, says the historian, "the living
church retired gradually within the lonely sanctuary of a
few solitary hearts "; that is, the real church of
God was almost hidden from view by the over- spread pomp
of the false. So, then, men's sects do not make visible
God's church, but, on the contrary, obstruct her life and
obscure her glory. These are facts of the history that no
honest and intelligent man can deny.
The Babel of human sects long
obscured the sight of the church of the first born. Until
the evening light revealed the true church as she shone
out in the morning of the dispensation, everybody looked
upon man made substitutes as the divine church; and
the body of Christ, which only is the church, was scarcely
discerned at all.
Visibility is a natural
characteristic of the church of God. Thus the church of
God did not become visible by the organization of sects;
for in the days of primitive Christianity none of the
modern sects existed. Those who speak of God's invisible
church and can see it visible only in sect organizations
hold a superstition of the Dark Ages. Babylon theologians
teach that God takes members into his invisible church,
while they admit members into the visible. In this they
are without any Scriptural support. It is true that the
world can not see the head of the church, as do the
Christians, for he manifests himself unto the latter as he
does not unto the former; but all can see the children of
God, and they are the body of Christ, the church.
"Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known
him. " This again explains why the masses of sect
members do not discern Christ nor his church. It is
because they are sinners, and Satan blinds their eyes to
their condition by telling them that Christ and his church
are invisible.
Again, the class book of God's
church is not here on earth nor seen by natural eyes. But,
notwithstanding this, the spiritual "read their title
clear" and know their names are written there.
So the church, without any
tampering by man, is a glorious and visible city of God on
earth, yea, so very visible that it is even the light of
the world.
