ALONE WITH GOD     

  As there is but "one God, and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all"; so likewise there is but "one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." It was the purpose of God to save both Jews and Gentiles through the gospel of his Son. Now, between these two classes was a great gulf of prejudice and vast separation in sentiment and education, so that it might very reasonably be thought that characters so remote from each other could never be blended together in one body and enabled to live agreeably under one faith. Did, therefore, the Lord indulge their alienation from each other, and their extreme peculiarities, by providing separate folds ? He did not. Said the Great Teacher, "Other sheep I have [Gentiles], which are not of this fold [not Jews]: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. " John 10: 16. These antipodes of humanity, if saved at all, had to be brought together into one fold. Which class, then, was required to surrender its position to the other? The answer is, "He put no difference between us and them." "But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin." The apostle confessed that the Jews were no better than the Gentiles. Neither class had to come over to the other, but both to God through Christ Jesus; and here is the beautiful result: "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace." Eph. 2: 1416.

  Then, for all the saved of the nations of the earth God has provided but "one fold." In it are peacefully blended together men of the most widely conflicting idiosyncrasies, and races of the most opposite customs and religions. Since, therefore, the infinite grace of God is manifestly sufficient to mold all men into one harmonious body, there is need of only one church. Every description of the church shows that it is but one. Every relation that she sustains to her God demands that she be one. Accordingly, we are told that Christ " is the head of the body, the church." As there is but one head, there can be but one body. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. But now are they many members, yet but one body." 1 Cor. 12:12, 13, 20. "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Rom. 12: 4, 5. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." Col. 3:15. These and many similar scriptures declare in the most positive terms that God acknowledges but one body. There is but one true church or assembly, just as there is but one true God. Since Christ calls us into one body, the call to join various bodies must proceed from antichrist. There is absolutely but one body and one Christ its head.

  Again, the church, or divine congregation, sustains in some respects the relation to Christ that a wife does to her husband. "And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord." "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Cor. 11: 2. "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." John 3: 29. " For thy maker is shine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called." Isa. 54: 5. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Rev. 19:7, 8. Here are five texts establishing this beautiful relation between Christ and his church. To admit, therefore, the idea of more than one church would impute to Christ the sin of polygamy. A shocking blasphemy!

  But again, we find the divine ecclesia recognized as his own family, his household. "Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Eph. 3:15. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Eph. 2: 19. Since no man can rightly have two families, God has but one church, which is the holy family.

  "Why, then," some one may ask, "do we read of 'churches' in the Bible," It is true the word "church" frequently appears in the plural; but a little attention to the word will convince any honest mind that the church of God is plural only in its diversified geographical location, but in a variety of faiths and orders, never. Accordingly, the word never occurs in the plural except when the writer is speaking of God's assembly located in several cities or in various localities throughout a country or province. For examples:

  "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified. " Acts 9: 31.

  "And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches. " Acts 15: 41.

  "As I teach everywhere in every church." 1 Cor. 4:17.

  "As I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye." 1 Cor. 16:1.

  "And so ordain I in all churches." 1 Cor.: 17.

  "The churches of Asia salute you." 1 Cor. 16: 19.

  " They returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch: . . . and when they had ordained them elders in every church." Acts 14:21, 23.

  In all the above instances except the last the word "churches" refers to the congregations of God located at various places throughout one or more countries. In the last the reference is to the congregations in three cities. That these churches were not separate sects is clear from the fact that they were all combined under the same ministry. One inspired apostle enjoined rules upon them all; but we all know that no bishop of one sect has jurisdiction over another ecclesiastical order. By means of any complete concordance you may see that " church " is never once used in the plural number when referring to the disciples of Christ in any one city. No matter how large the city and how numerous the believers, there is but one church of God in it. This church, however, may have had several places of assembling on account of not all the members being able to meet in one place. This evidently was true of the church at Antioch, where the believers numbered thousands. Yet when all these were spoken of, they were termed "the church that was at Antioch," or "the church of God which is at Corinth. " 1 Cor. 1: 2. " The church of the Thessalonians." 1 Thess. 1:1. "Unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." Rev. 1: 11.

  Thus you see that there was only one church in one city and that the seven churches of Asia, so often appealed to in apology for men's sects, were not seven sects in one town, but God's one community located in seven cities. There is, we repeat, not a single instance in the New Testament of more than one church of God in one place or city; not one case where the word "churches" does not mean a plurality of locations, and not a plurality of denominations. Indeed, according to every characteristic of the divine church, she is but one body in heaven and on earth, composed of all those who are saved; and but one in her manifestation in any one place, composed of all in that place who are saved in Christ Jesus. And though under the apostasy there are today many bodies, many towering steeples and rival altars in every city, God's Word is just as true today as when written by the inspiration of the apostles, and there is but one body in Christ (Rom. 12: 4, 5). Yea, there is but one body universal, and but one body in Chicago, New York, or in any other city on earth. Therefore, if " God be true and every man a liar," it follows that the multitude of ecclesiastical bodies seen in these last days are not in Christ, not the one body of Christ. However, we admit that individuals who, through erroneous education, dwell in these manifold factions, and also sincerely abide in Christ, are in the one body of Christ, notwithstanding their sect relation. This, however, they are always ready to abandon when they properly discern the divine body into which God set them and the rival character of the sect into which they were taken by man. The church of God is one in heaven and on earth; hence she is necessarily one holy family wherever she appears on earth.