Out of the Briars / An Autobiography and Sketch of the Twenty-ninth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers

by A. H. Newton

The Church; What It Is and What It Should Be.

I am aware of the fact that in writing my views of the Church as it is and as it should be, that I may and doubtlessly will, run counter to the views of some of my brethren, but I do not find that this is a valid reason for my not expressing my views on such an important subject. I have served the Church quite a number of years, over forty years, having given her the best part of my life, and now that I am about to conclude my labors for her, I feel that it is my duty to say those things which in my judgment will be for her highest welfare and the glory of her Head, Jesus Christ.

I. The Church as it is. The study of present church life is a most intricate one. We find that the Church is hopelessly divided, that is, it seems hopelessly divided. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Let it be understood that I am not talking or writing about any of these divisions, or denominations. I am speaking of that body of believers of every denomination or sect, who belong to our Christ. They may be Protestants or Roman Catholics; they may be Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians or Quakers. No one denomination can lay any claim to a monopoly of religion or of Christianity, and therefore cannot be considered alone.

1. The Church today is shorn of much of its power by so many divisions. There would be no objection to these myriad divisions if it were not for the fact that these divisions are more or less arrayed against one another. If these divisions were articulated and harmonious like the divisions of a great army, it would be a good thing, but this is not so; we are the Church Militant in a bad sense as well as in a good sense, and alas the bad too often predominates.

We have frequently found one denomination fighting another denomination on doctrinal grounds; we have found them proselyting; we have found them trying to occupy the same territory, and thereby wasting their strength; we have seen them grow into bigotry and sectarianism and live the life of strife. The evils which have followed such a condition have been an impoverished and struggling, yes, dying church; a poorly paid and inefficient ministry; a life largely robbed of its spirituality; an organization which has become the laughing stock of the world.

We have found individual congregations following the example of their denominations. All this is to be greatly deplored, for it is contrary to the teachings and spirit of Jesus Christ.

2. The Church today has become poisoned with politics. Political tricks and schemes, political life and its power, have gotten into the church and have wrought havoc. We cannot reconcile this manner of directing the life and work of the Church with the over ruling of the Holy Spirit. Some of the great meetings of our churches, in their annual business sessions, have become real worldly political gatherings having met in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have turned the House of God into a den of politicians. Men high up in the authority and influence of the Church, have subverted this rank and power to their own selfish purposes. They have sought to make the Church a stepping stone to something better for themselves instead of making themselves a stepping stone for the betterment of the Zion of God. They have forgotten that they came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; not to be served with easy and lucrative positions, but to serve in any sphere however humble. Money has been spent in vast sums for the procuring of high positions; life has been wasted in a selfish attempt to save it; the Church has become corrupted and made sinful, thereby driving the Holy Spirit away from its work and presence. The Church today is more or less disgraced by such political methods. It stands depleted of much of its power. It is following men instead of God, instead of the Holy Spirit. The Church cannot serve two masters.

3. The Church today is largely under the power of the god of Mammon. It has forgotten the poor which it always has with it. It has gone off after the well-to-do and rich classes. It has greater respect for the man that comes into its doors dressed in goodly apparel than for the poor man in his rags.

In our cities the Church is following the rich uptown. Great and grand buildings are standing idle, and posted on their front is the sign, “For Sale.” Whereas the multitudes are living and surging all about these empty houses of God.

The great burden of the Church today is not getting in souls, but getting in dollars. Magnificent buildings are erected costing hundreds, yes millions of dollars. The members are compelled to pay for the costly structures. We forget that the groves were God’s first temples. We forget that He was pleased to live in a tent with His people. The Church has gone money-mad. The struggle of the pastor is to get his salary after the great and increasing expenses of the Church have been met. If he fails to accomplish this herculean task, he must go. By this course the masses of the people are driven away from the Church. Only fifty per cent of the people of the United States attend the Church, and only thirty per cent are members of the Church, and one of the reasons, if not the greatest, is that they cannot afford to be members of the Church. The call on the Sabbath Day is money, money, money. People sicken at the cry, and turn away in utter disgust.

4. There is a growing formality in the Church. This formality is seen in the lives as well as the worship of the members of the Church. Alas, too many love the form of religion, but they deny the power of it. Revivals are gotten up, whereas they always come down. We have never been able to get up a rain, because it is nature that brings it down. We can never get up a revival because the Holy Spirit brings it down, so that there has crept into the Church, times, and seasons and plans of man’s making for revival purposes, simply because the time has come for a revival and for no other purpose, the revival is had. What good can come out of such attempts? Revivals come through the operation of great spiritual laws, and these laws must be obeyed by God’s people, or there can be no revival.

The modern evangelist has done much to bring about a stereotyped condition of the Church. He has his set methods of rousing the people; he arranges for a revival in a certain church because it suits his convenience, not looking to the special need of the church for such a service. He is often inclined to depreciate the work of the pastor by his own methods and mannerism; he sets in to do a certain amount of work; so many souls must be converted; so much money must be raised, and he is on hand to have this work done, and in this manner, the whole work of revivals has been almost entirely discounted. The work of the modern evangelist is unscriptural in that he is not doing it in the right place. The pastorate is not the place for the evangelist. He should go to those waste places where there is no pastor. He belongs on the frontier, and the pastor who is wise will not permit an evangelist to come into his church, and do the work which he himself ought to do, or some other pastor.

The Church must get away from these man-made methods and plans; these man-set times and occasions, and must look to the Holy Spirit for direction in all these matters.

I wish it understood that I am pointing out some of the great weaknesses of the Church to-day. I have not forgotten that the Church in every age has had its struggles; I have not forgotten that the Church is founded on the Rock, Jesus Christ, and the walls of hell cannot prevail against her. I have not forgotten that it is through the Church that this lost world will be redeemed. I have not forgotten that the Church is the salt of the earth, the light of the world, the bride of Christ.

In considering what the Church should be we have but to go back to the Bible in order to determine this question.

1. The Church should be a body of believers in Christ. I mean by believers, men and women who are practicing the teachings of Christ. If the life is not the result of the teachings of Christ there is no faith behind it. If a man says that he believes in Christ, and is not living the teachings of the Master, he is not a believer. That there are many in the Church who are not believers is therefore true, because there are many who are not practicing the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The Church should return to its great mission of preaching the Gospel. Almost everything else but the Gospel is preached. Science, literature, biography, philosophy, mortality, etc., are the burden of the pulpit today. As a consequence of this men and women are starving to death for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The doctrines of great fundamental principles of Christianity should be preached. If a man is not rooted and grounded in the principles of his faith, how can he be strong, how can he be useful?

A cry has gone out for a new religion. We have too much now of the new religion. It is a failure; we must get more of the old religion, or give up the Gospelship to those who will be faithful to their trust. God will make the change Himself if we do not make it. He took the light away from the Jews because they were not faithful to their charge, and He will take it away from us for the same reason. What the world today needs is the Bible, and in order that it may receive the Bible it must be preached in the pulpit and in the pew. The pulpit is very weak today in this respect, and hence the pew is weak. We have a weak religion, and unless we return to God’s way, it will grow weaker still. This requires a thorough Bible training on the part of the preacher. The minister should know his Bible, and then he should preach it. It demands great faith in the Word of God, and great courage to proclaim its saving truth. A preacher is sent out into the world to tell it of sin, Satan, self and hell. He is commissioned to proclaim salvation from these things, and to set before the people an upright, godly life. He is authorized to command that men everywhere shall repent of their sins and turn to God. He must know the truth that he may preach it. He must know the plan of salvation. He must be one with God in knowledge and work. The pulpit must control the pew, and not the pew the pulpit.

3. The Church must look after the poor. This is not being done today. In the Church during the days of the Hebrew nation there were no poor. During the Church in the early days of Christianity, the poor were well cared for. There were not any that lacked. The Church should be going out after the poor instead of running away from them. Christ was constantly serving the poor. He was with them all the time. He shared their sufferings and bore their burdens. The Church to be true to Him and true to itself must do the same thing. Our very judgment test will be found in the manner in which we treat the poor, which are the representatives of Christ on the earth. “I was hungry and ye gave me no meat.” Read the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew and see what this test is. Suppose that the Church today would be judged by this test, where would it stand?

These are some of my views which I gladly put into this book hoping and praying that they will become an inspiration to many to get back to the Bible; back to the old time religion of our fathers; back to the cross of Jesus Christ. They are written in the greatest kindness but with the greatest earnestness. They are written in no fault finding spirit, but with the spirit of love and sympathy, for I love the Church more than my own life.