[Footnote A: Cor. 12: 21.]
[Footnote B: Eph. 4: 12.]
[Footnote C: Mark 16: 17, 18.]
[Footnote D: Eph. 4: 13, 14.]
[Footnote A: Acts 2: 3.]
[Footnote B: Acts 2: 38, 39.]
Now in view of all this that I have culled from the scriptures, I cannot understand how any one has authority to say that in these days we have no need for inspired Prophets, and for those wonderful gifts of the Spirit, without which, we are told by the New Testament writers, we cannot reach to the perfected man, and to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
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 church which Jesus Christ founded and His Apostles built up in the first days of Christianity. 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]
[Footnote A: Prov. 29: 18.]
It is also logical to suppose that a church which denies the need of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit cannot well have that Spirit guiding it, for the whole history of the primitive church shows us that wherever the Holy Spirit was poured down upon any one and especially on the apostles and prophets and the other ministers of Christ, He manifested Himself in prophesyings, healings, tongues and other ways. God no doubt speaks to all His children throughout the world in some measure by His Spirit, the still small voice of conscience, but the Holy Spirit in His full and wonderful manifestations, that spirit of knowledge, and wisdom, and of revelation, is only to be found where there is the true church of Christ. Again, Jesus Himself tells us that "When that spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come."[B] This is the gift of prophecy. Do we see anything of this kind in the Church of England, or in the church of Rome, or in any of the numerous denominations of Christians anywhere—church and denominations which by their dissensions and different teachings go far to distract mankind and confound the earnest seekers after truth? It is when this spirit of prophecy, of healings, and of tongues is wanting that people are led by the teachings of men, darkness overspreads the world, errors begin to multiply, heresies to spring up, and nothing but a form of godliness remains while its powers are denied.