Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

“ We have seen that the various ceremonies and practices of the Catholic Church are dictated by right reason; that they are the rational deduction from Christ's teaching; that they obtain for us divine grace, excite pious thoughts, and elevate our minds to God; and that a true Christian is one who not only believes but also practises the teachings of Christ and His Church. The observance of these pious practices of the Church makes us Christians in fact as well as in name. They assist us to keep the commandment and to live in accordance with our faith. ”

“ By what did Christ say all men should know His disciples?
“By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35.
[pg 583]
Note.—“God has united believers in church capacity in order that one may strengthen another in good and righteous endeavor. The church on earth would indeed be a symbol of the church in heaven if its members were of one mind and of one faith. It is those who are not moved by the Holy Spirit that mar God's plan, and cause division, and strengthen the forces of darkness. ”

“ And therefore we should perhaps not be far wrong if we were to gather from this that Paul would have defined the Church as the company of all those persons who "call upon the name of Jesus Christ." Calling upon the name of any [20] one implies trust in him; and those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ are those who look up to Christ as their supreme Lord, able to supply all their need. It is this belief in one Lord which brings men together as a Christian Church. ”

“ These four rules must be obeyed in order to gain admission into Christ's church. They are the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
These doctrines were taught by the Savior and His disciples, as recorded in the Bible. There is no other way of entering the Church of Christ. Anyone who teaches that there is some other way is under condemnation. St. Paul says:
Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ”

“ She is holy because she is the body of Christ, of whose fulness she receives, and whose graces she reflects, and because it is through her teaching, prayers, and institutions that the Holy Spirit usually works and influences men to follow holiness. The ministry, the preaching, the sacraments, the laws, and the discipline of the Church have as their end the turning of men from their sins and persuading them to follow holiness.
The Christian Church is a Catholic Church. ”

“ It appears therefore quite evident to me that if I in all humility and sincerity accept the teachings of God, as made clear in the Bible, it becomes impossible for me to admit, or to flatter myself as a member of the Church of England, that any church of professing Christians on the earth, which denies the urgent need of inspired prophets and apostles, and the glorious and miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, can be the {464} church which Jesus Christ founded and His Apostles built up in the first days of Christianity. ”

“ I assure you, a day has not passed without my offering up my unworthy prayers to Almighty God in your behalf; and I cannot refrain from again saying, that I hope one day we shall be united in the same faith of the One Holy and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. How great is the consolation to belong to that holy Church which alone Jesus Christ has founded, which alone He has illustrated with a never-failing succession of {188} pastors and of miracles, from which all others have separated, and out of which I find in the Holy Scriptures no covenanted promise of salvation! ”

“ The Christian Church is a widely different thing; it is the whole system of Christianity as laid down in the New Testament; it is built on the great foundation of prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. It is composed of all who hold the doctrines of Christianity; who acknowledge Jesus as their Teacher, Redeemer, and only Advocate; of all who love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as themselves ”

“ It is indeed a doctrine of vital importance. It is no mere open question respecting which men may hold harmlessly differences of opinion. It is an essential part of the faith of the Catholic Church. It affects our relation to Christian truth in many ways. How can we understand aright the nature of the Church of Christ itself, if we are ignorant of Him who dwells in the Church as a living temple ”

“ The Church of Christ is the fellowship of all those who accept and profess all the articles of faith transmitted by the Apostles and approved by General Synods. Without this visible Church there is no salvation. ”

“ Christ placed these officers and the ordinances in the Church for the perfection of the Saints; and any one teaching contrary to this is a perverter of the gospel, and an anti-Christ in the full meaning of the word. The difference between the true Church of Christ on the one hand, and the Catholic Church, with all her posterity composing the whole protestant world on the other hand, amounts to this: one had apostles, prophets, etc., who led the Church by inspiration or by divine revelation; while the others have learned men to preach learned men's opinions ”

“ For this end she strictly commands her pastors to be assiduous in instructing their people from their earliest years, well knowing that the more they know of their religion, the more they must be attached to it. The True Church of Christ is the work of God, the doctrine she teaches contains the truths of God; now, the more attentively truth is examined, the more illustrious it must appear; and Almighty God has given such splendid testimony to the truth of His religion, that the more it is examined with sincerity, the more it convinces and delights. ”

“ To us, the Catholic Church of Christ is a living church, possessing, by the gift of her divine Founder, authority to teach in his name all that he taught, and ever guarded by his divine power from so falling under the assaults of hell as to teach error to man in his name, instead of the divine truth which he established and commissioned her to teach. ”

“ At that time there were incorporated in the Christian church heathen rites, which with the innovations added, down through the ages to the present time, stamps that church today as one entirely separate and apart from the original apostolic church. Without Apostles and Prophets through whom they might obtain the word of God, the church has steadily drifted from its moorings into the broad sea of men's opinions, until it is split and divided into hundreds of different sects and creeds, no one of which can today present an organization that even resembles the form of the Church of Christ. ”

“ The writers of these Nineteen Articles fail to see anywhere in the world a divinely established and spiritually endowed Church of Jesus Christ. They are determined to live in purity and love, to avoid dissension and strife, to guard their membership in the invisible Church, and to wait in faith for the outpouring of the Spirit and the bestowal of miraculous gifts for the restoration of the Church in its pristine apostolic purity and power. ”

“ The Church is the Body of Christ, and all who belong to the Church are members of His body, and united with Jesus Christ the head; but those who are out of the Church are not members of His body, nor are they united with Christ the head. ”

“ In fact it seems to me that where there is not sufficient faith to obtain new revelation and the ministry of angels, all of which are promised under the true Gospel, there cannot possibly be the true church of Christ. The scripture also, which is given for our instruction, tells us "Where there is no vision the people perish." ”

“ A Christian Church, therefore, according to the New Testament idea, is a company of persons Divinely called and separated from the world, baptized on a profession of their faith in Christ, united in covenant for worship and Christian service, under the supreme authority of Christ, whose Word is their only law and rule of life in all matters of religious faith and practice. ”

“ Why does the Church conclude most of its prayers with the words "through Jesus Christ Our Lord"? A. The Church concludes most of its prayers with the words "through Jesus Christ Our Lord" because it is only through His merits that we can obtain grace, and because "there is no other name given to men whereby we must be saved." ”

“ I consider the Gospel of the grace of God, the Father’s will to us, in Christ Jesus, containing Promises, Declarations of Mercy, Imitations, Precepts, and Exhortations, to be the only, and all-sufficient Rule of a Christian. These are not in opposition to the holy Law of God, but they far excel it in glory, and as many as walk according to this Rule, peace be on them. Christ is our King and our Law-giver, he has fulfilled the Law for his Church, brought in an everlasting righteousness for our justification ”

“ XII. I believe, that the Church of Christ consists of true believers in his name; that these are his mystical body, of which, he is the only head, and there is no other: and, that all the Children of God derive spiritual life from him, by virtue of union to him; that he is our life; and in consequence of that, we are now quickened by his life-giving power in conversion; our bodies shall be quickened in the last day, and all Believers shall enjoy eternal life, in glory for ever. ”

“ A. Nothing can contribute more effectually to produce the most necessary and salutary dispositions in their hearts, both towards God, towards one another, and towards those who are separated from their Communion, than the frequent and serious consideration of their vocation to the Faith of Christ, and to the Communion of that Church out of which there is no salvation. ”

“ There are some organizations calling themselves Christian churches which have substituted certain philosophical doctrines in place of the principles of Jesus Christ, but it is a fact of history that in proportion as the Divine Lordship of Christ has been exalted the greater has been the growth of the church. ”

“ If the Church were an unattained ideal, according to the Protestant acceptation, the promise of Christ to be with his followers even unto the end of the world would admit of no more profound interpretation than that, after his personal departure, the Lord would continue to occupy the minds of his disciples, thus giving their thoughts a right direction through all time. ”

“ All things emanating from God are constituted on principles of perfect order. The New Testament rules for the government of the church we regard as binding on the whole brotherhood of Christ. No circumstances can justify us in departing from the usages established by Christ and his apostles.
“‘We regard any congregation of believers, who habitually assemble for the worship of God and the due observance of gospel ordinances, as a church of Christ. ”

“ This truth is embodied for us in the Creed, in the words, "Jesus Christ, His Only Son our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary." This great outward fact is the foundation of all that follows: upon it Christianity depends and all Christian Doctrine has reference to it. By reason of the Incarnation the Church as a living Body becomes Christ's Body on earth, and in the Church and by means of it man is brought into union with Him who is the beginning of a new race, the Head of a new and spiritual creation. ”

“ The Church by its very existence is a body of men and women set apart for a holy use. The New Testament word for Church, ecclesia, means a society "called out" from among other men. It exists not for common purposes, but to witness for God and for Christ, to maintain before the eyes and in all the common ways and works of men the ideal life realized in Christ and the presence and holiness of God. ”

“ Thus was the true Church of Christ again on the earth. During the hundreds of years when the world had lain in darkness, not a man could have been found who had the authority to confirm a member of the church ”

“ The church has no mission or authority to add any thing to the deposit of faith, committed by our Lord, orally or by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the apostles. Her office is to guard, to teach, to protect, and explain the faith. She decides what Jesus Christ taught to the apostles, and they to their successors, according to evidence contained in Scripture and apostolic tradition, assisted by the infallible light of the Holy Spirit. Whatever she defines as pertaining to Catholic faith has always been believed in the church. ”

“ If Christ sanctify all whom he saves, many will appear to have been mistaken in their expectations at another day. It is grown amongst us almost an abhorrency to all flesh to say, the Church of God is to be holy. ”

“ This is the glorious and alone foundation of the Church; and if Christ is not this adorable person, the angels in heaven must be guilty of rank idolatry, the Church will be lost, and I must sink under the curse of God. For all the angelic hosts adore him, the Church is built upon him, and I am trusting in him. For thus saith the Lord, “Cursed is man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.” And if Christ is not God in the highest sense of the word, woe be to all who trust in him. ”