USA > West Virginia > The West Virginia pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal church. Sermons from living ministers. With personal sketches of the authors > Part 3
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2. The laity also are responsible for the preaching of the Gospel.
But says one, "I cannot preach." Yes, but you can. There is not a man, or a woman, or a child who has crossed the line of moral accountability, but who, in some way, can preach the gospel. For, "out of the
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mouths of babes and sucklings" God has ordained strength, that he might still the enemy and the avenger. There are none who cannot turn mission- aries and hunt up the ignorant and vicious, who abound in our cities and country places, and bring them to the house of God; or as was first done by woman, tell of a risen Savior, or carry to the outcasts messages of mercy, in the shape of religious tracts.
"But," continues the obiector, " this would only reach those at home. I cannot go to heathen lands, and if I could go, I could not preach to them." You cannot go, it is true, and if you could perhaps you could accom- plish more by staying where you are, if God has not called you specially to this work. Still, you can preach to the heathen. In passing along one of your streets, I saw a newly erected house. I asked who built that house. The answer was Mr. - built it. Did he cut these stones? Did he make and lay those bricks ? Did he plane those boards and put them in their appropriate places ? No, indeed, he did not do one of those things. And yet he built that house. His money paid the men who dressed the stones. His money paid the men who made and laid the bricks. His money paid the men who planed the boards, and put them in their places; and in this way he erected his house. In this manner you may preach the gospel to the heathen .. Your money can pay for the support of the men whom God has called to this work-whose souls burn with intense desire for the salvation of men. Men who have said, "here am I, send me," who count not their lives dear unto them- selves, but are willing to endure the hardships, and make the sacrifices necessary, in order to spread the savor of a Savior's name. O, what a blessed thought it is, that while we are toiling in our counting houses, in our workshops, on our farms, or at our other employ- ments, we may become workers together with God! That by the bestowment of our money, we may preach Jesus and the resurrection to those who had never heard a Savior's name. What a glorious privilege it would be for one, or two, or more of you to join your means together and send out a missionary, to preach
!
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for you to the heathen. Could you not do it ? If so, will not God hold you responsible for not doing all you can? Recollect that " where much is given there will also much be required." The responsibility, therefore, to extend the blessings of the Gospel to the ends of the earth, rests on us as ministers, and on you as mem- bers of the church. Nor need we say that we cannot preach, nor ask the question, "Am I my brother's keeper." God will make inquisition for blood, and woe be to us if it be required at our hand ! " Deliver us from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of our salva- tion, and our tongues shall sing aloud of thy praise."
IV. LET US NOW LOOK AT THE PROSPECT THAT OPENS UP BEFORE THE CHURCH, IN THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HER MISSION.
It is said that the only safe way to judge the future, is by the past. If this were true, how dark and dreary would be the prospect of the church, and of the world for the future. But I cannot believe that eighteen hundred years more, nor half of that time will pass away, before the milennial glory will break in upon the world. A prophet once asked the question, " Watchman, what of the night?" The answer was, " The morning cometh and also the night." The morning did come. The light of Christianity arose and blessed the world, and its rays scattered the dark- ness of sin. But alas! the night came also, with its fearful darkness. The long, dreary night of the dark ages set in, when the profession of Christianity was but a mockery, and religion but a name. When vice stalked abroad, and sin abounded, and imposture tri- umphed, and everything that was lovely and of good report seemed well nigh banished from the world. But, thank God, a brighter day has dawned upon the world again. A day of Gospel effulgence, which will not be followed by a night of sin. The winter is over and gone, and the springtide of glory has set in. The Church is arraying herself in the beautiful garments of salvation, and preparing to go forth, "as clear as the sun, as fair as the moon, and as terrible as an army with banners."
The prophets, while looking through the vista of
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the future, have swept their fingers over the harp of prophecy, and have awakened its melody in strains the most exalted and sublime, to portray the rising glory, the extensive spread. and conquering, but peaceful, influences of Messiah's kingdom. " And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth the law. and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people ; and they shall beat their swords into plow- shares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up the sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together ; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed ; and their young ones shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them ; and the desert shall re- joice, and blossom as the rose. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Blessed day ! May the Lord hasten the happy time !
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While contemplating these soul inspiring predic- tions, we may sing,
" Ye visions bright of heavenly birth, Ye glories of a latter day ;
Descend upon the fallen earth, And chase the shades of night away ;
Bid streams of love and mercy flow, Through every vale of human woe ;
Till sin and care and sorrow cease, And all the world is hushed in peace.
" How long amidst this dying race, Shall desolation hold her reign ;
How long shall men despise the grace, And love of him who once was slain ;
How long shall heathen bow the knee, To gods who neither hear nor see ;
Ye scenes of bliss so long foretold, When will your radiant hues unfold.
" The gospel of the living God, Shall echo this wide world around ;
Till every place of man's abode, Shall know the joy inspiring sound ;
Who can the heavenly scene portray, Who can describe the glorious day ; We see its glimmering from afar. We hail the bright, the morning star."
Thank God, the day dawns; the morning star has already risen upon the world.
V. HAVING GLANCED AT THE FUTURE BY THE LIGHT OF PHROPHECY, LET US NOW LOOK AT THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
We stand on the threshold of milennial glory. Everywhere the fields are whitening for the harvest. The various John Baptists are going forth, preparing the way of the Lord. The way has opened up to the mil- lions of China. Japan has opened her doors for the reception of the Gospel. India has heard the joyful sound. Popery, that man of sin, who has dared to plant his cloven foot upon the Bible and interdict the word of God, will soon struggle convulsively in the arms of death, slain by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The light of the Crescent is wan- ing, and will soon give place to the heavenly rays of the Son of Righteousness. Ethiopia has already stretched forth her hands unto God. The isles of the sea are waiting for his law. The flag of a pure Chris- tianity waves over the tombs of the prophets. All spurious forms of Chistianity will soon be purified, or destroyed. The sun-scorched Arab, charmed by the story of the Cross, will give his wanderings over. With
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the fulness of the Gentiles, the outcast Jew will be brought in. The last wanderer from God will be gathered to the Cross, and every knee will bow, and every tongue confess to God. The praise of a redeem- ing and pardoning Savior will dwell on every lip ; will be wafted on every breeze; will float up every val- ley, and roll over every hill and mountain, until a gust of praise ascends to heaven and mingles with the songs of angels, and the shouts of the blood-washed throngs ; and earth and heaven join in one universal shout, " Hallelujah ! the Lord God Omnipotent reign- eth!" May our eyes see that glorious day, and our hearts feel its heavenly bliss. Amen, and Amen.
PERSONAL SKETCH.
REV. SAMUEL STEELE, D.D., is among the best known of all the members of the West Virginia Conference. Though in the prime of life, he has been a long time on the walls of Zion. From a re- cent letter, responsive to some of my inquiries as to dates and facts, I select a few paragraphs, in the Doctor's own language, because they cover the desired points most fully, and are written in his free and easy style. He says : "I was born in the city of Londonderry, in the province of Ulster, Ireland. My parents were members of the Established Church, and under the teach- ings of that Church I was trained. My sisters were the first of our family to become Wesleyan Methodists, and many of the older Methodist ministers visited at our home. Yet this did not have any visible effect upon me in leading me to Methodism. Whilst admitting the goodness and faithfulness of these men of God, I preferred the ministrations of the Establishment and at- tended them regularly, and was confirmed by Bishop Mant, the Bishop of Down Conner and Dromore.
"In the year 1839, I was led to hear the Rev. James Lynch. a missionary who was with Dr. Coke when he died at season, his way to India. The text he chose was, 'If the righteous Icarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear.' t was a word in season and was driven home to my heart by the Holy Spirit. I felt myself to be a sinner, and from that time I prayed more, and read more in my Bible. I continued thus to live for upwards of six months. Strange to say I avoided the Metho- dists, and did not go near them, until I found that the burden of my sins were too great to be borne any longer. I went to class meeting and gave my name to Mr. Lynch as a member of the so- ciety, and on the 16th of February, 1840, was savingly converted to God at a "Mourner's Bench," in the town of Newry, County Down, Ireland. The Lord blessed me powerfully. I was soon called upon to exercise my gifts in prayer and exhortation, but shrank from the work of the ministry, although convinced of my ' call.' I struggled against this call for many years, until I, in a great measure, lost my enjoyment of religion. I asked God to release me from this responsibility, but there was a deepening of the impression.
"In the year 1848, on the 12th of May, I sailed from Dublin and landed in New York the 27th of June. I reached West Virginia on the 4th of July, and shortly after handed my credentials to Dr. Gideon Martin.
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"I taught school for two winters, and enjoyed it very well; but the impression was still on my mind that I must preach the gos- pel. My test for a call was that some minister must speak to me about the matter. One day I met Dr. Martin, and he asked me if I felt it was my duty to preach. I then told him of my convictions, &c. I was licensed to preach at Gilboa, Marion county, and shortly after commenced my itinerancy on Beverley Circuit. Rev. G. J. Nixon was preacher in charge, and Rev. S. G. J. Worthington my Presiding Elder. The next year, 1851, I went to Weston Circuit; the year following to Wayne Circuit, with Bro. J. B. Blakeney, as my colleague. The next year I was sent to Malden, where I remained two years. Then I was sta- tioned at Weston; and after remaining one year at Weston, I was stationed two years at Buckhannon. I next spent two years on Harrisville Circuit, and went from there to Parkersburg sta- tion, where I remained two years. My next appointment was on the Parkersburg district as Presiding Elder. After serving one year on the district, I was elected Chaplain of the Seventh West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and continued with the regiment to the end of the late civil war. After coming home, I was employ- ed on Mannington Circuit, and at the end of the Conference year, I was sent to Chapline Street station, Wheeling. In the year 1868, I was appointed by Bishop Kingsley to Clarksburg District, as Presiding Elder, where I remained until 1872, and was next stationed at Grafton. The brethren of our Conference sent me as one of their delegates to the General Conference, which met that year in Brooklyn. We had a pleasant session of Conference and everything passed off pleasantly. After serving two years in Grafton I was appointed Presiding Elder of the Morgantown district. From Morgantown I went to Wheeling, where I was stationed at North Street, among as loving a people as I ever served-the most generous in their gifts, and in attachment to the Church unsurpassed. I am now, 1882, in Huntington, doing my best to sustain Methodism, and having obtained help of God I continue unto this day."
Dr. Steele is an earnest, able and devoted minister of the Word. He is genial in his nature, commanding in his appearance, and draws close to him those with whom he associates. He possesses considerable culture, and is especially well versed in the Scrip- tures. In the year 1876, he received the honorary degree of Doc- tor in Divinity, from Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio,-an honor worthily bestowed. Bro. Steele's works will live after he has gone from among us; and how gratifying it is to know that-
Good deeds in this world done, Are paid beyond the sun ; As water on the root Is seen above in fruit."
SERMON III.
BY
REV. SAMUEL STEELE, D. D.
-
THEME :- CHRIST, THE ROCK.
TEXT :- And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven .- MATT. XVI: 18, 19.
There is no portion of God's word, around which so much controversy has been carried on, as the words of our text. Romanists claim that in these verses are contained the following dogmas of their church : 1. That Peter is the rock upon which the church of our text is built. 2. That to Peter as chief pastor, ruler and governor of the church, was given, exclusively, all fullness of ecclesiastical power signi- fied by the gift of the keys; and 3. That these pre- rogatives, including personal infallibility, descend to the Bishop of Rome, as heir and successor of Peter, first Pope of Rome, and therefore Supreme Vicar of Christ, and head of the church on earth. In support of these startling assumptions, for such we must call them, they also refer to Luke xxii : 31, 32, and to John xxi : 15, 17. These are the only Scriptures re- ferred to by Pius IX, on the 18th of July, 1870, to sus- tain his claim to personal infallibility, and the su- preme power of mastery over the Roman church. It is claimed that in Luke xxii: 31,32, Peter was made infallible, and charged with guiding the faith of the
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other Apostles; and in John xxi, 15, 17, that juris- diction was given him over the Apostles, and the whole church.
It is my purpose to show, that these claims are not contained in these texts, and also that they are un- scriptural and unreasonable. Some Protestant wri- ters allow that Peter is the rock specified in my text, and call him the rock man, &c., thereby giving great joy and gladness to Roman controversialists. They fur- ther say, that no attention ought to be paid to the difference of gender, in the nouns Petros and Petra. They both mean rock, and so does Cephas in John I, 42, although King James' translators say it means "stone." In those days, however, men knew but lit- tle Latin and less Greek, so that these persons adopt nearly the Romanist view, "Thou art St. Peter, and upon this St. Peter I will build my church." But these good brethren, towards the winding up of their expositions, ask " What has this to say to Rome ?" And then leave the Romanists without a plank to stand on. The contention between the Romanists andus, is, whether, the rock in the text, refers to Peter, or Christ. What is the rock ? Peter, or the truth he confessed, or Christ himself ? Taking all the facts into consideration, we are forced by the teaching of God's word to the latter view. For Christ, not Peter, is the rock in First Cor. x, 4, and the foundation in First Cor. iii, 11. The Old Testament associates the idea of the rock with the steadfastness and greatness of God, not with that of a man .* "He is the rock ; his work is perfect; of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful; the God of Israel said the the rock of Israel spake to me."f The application of this title, "the rock," to Peter is inconsistent with the plain reference by our Lord to the preceding con- text in the beginning of this verse. For the words " Ard I say also unto thee," manifestly point out, both by the copulative "and," and the connective adverb " also," the inseparable connection of this verse with the previous declaration of Peter, concerning our
*Deut. xxii : 14, 18. 12 Sam'l. xxii, 3; Psalms, xviii, 2, 31, 36 ; Isa. xvii, 18; Plumptre on Matt,
4
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Lord's divinity. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," and thereby demonstrates that our Lord's immediate reply, "And I also say unto thee," &c., necessarily included the declaration of Peter, as being the principal object of the sentence, the true founda- tion, or rock, upon which the church alone can be properly built. Because faith in Christ, that he is the Son of the living God, is the only foundation or rock of our salvation. Bearing in mind that, accord- ing to the second novel article in Pope Pius' Creed, Romanists are bound " never to receive or interpret the sacred Scriptures, otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." On this princi- ple, our text gives the Romanists no support what- ever, for some of the Fathers make the rock to be Pe- ter, others the faith professed by Peter, others, Christ himself.
But suppose our text establishes what is claimed for Peter, what has it to do with Rome ? " It is little more than a guess," says Littledale, "that Peter was ever at Rome at all. It is only a guess, that he was ever Bishop of Rome, and for this there is little evi- dence of any kind. It is only a guess, that he had the power to appoint any heir · to his special privilege, whatever that was; it is only a guess, that he did so appoint the Bishops of Rome, and for these two guesses, not the smallest scrap of history or tittle of evidence ever has been produced." Nor can an argu- ment be drawn to support these pretensions from the mention of Peter's name, first in the list of the Apos- tles given in Matt. x, 2; Mark iii, 16, and Luke vi, 13, for Andrew is mentioned before Peter in John i. 44, and in the divisions of the Corinthian church no prominence is given to Peter, or Cephas, over other Apostles. He is classed with Paul, and Appollos James is mentioned first in Gal. ii, 9. And in the same chapter, Paul withstood Peter to the face, and re- proved him for not walking uprightlv, and that before them all. Now, I would like to see a Primate, Bishop, or Cardinal of the church of Rome, reproving the Pope to his face. It would be amusing to a looker-on, pro- vided he was at a safe distance from the dungeons of
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the Inquisition. Peter is called to account by the church at Jerusalem, for preaching to, and associating with, the Gentiles. Peter and John were sent by the Apostles at Jerusalem to Samaria .* Now, who has ever heard of the Cardinals at Rome sending the Pope on a mission ? But here the Apostles send, and Peter is sent. Our Savior said, "He that is sent is not greater than he that sent him."+ Certainly these claims of the Roman church are not sustained here, nor does Peter, in his Epistles, claim any supremacy over the church, merely stating that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, and exhorts " the elders as an elder," and not as the infallible Vicar of Christ. If Peter had been appointed by our Lord, Prince of the Apos- tles, Vicar of Christ, with jurisdiction over the whole church, and that these should descend, to the Bishop of Rome, is it consistent with the goodness and wisdom of God, that he should not have mentioned it in ex- press words, especially when the knowledge of it, ac- cording to the teachings of Rome, is so essential to the very being of the Church and the salvation of the soul ?
Pope Pius IX, declared the strength and sol- idity of the church, consists in the institution, the perpetuity and the nature of the sacred Apostolic Primacy. Observe, the strength and solidity of the Church of Rome, is not placed, by this authoritative statement, in Jesus Christ, nor in the Holy Spirit, nor in the spirituality or holiness of the church, but in the primacy of Peter. Paul surely must have been guilty of a very great omission, when, in enumerating the several officers of the Christian Church, he did not mention the chief, but merely says that the "Lord gave some apostles, some pro- phets, some evangelists and , pastors and teachers ;"¿ and more expressly in First Corinthians, xii, 28: "God hath set some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers," &c. Now, if the Popes of Rome were heads of the church, and heirs to the so-called privileges of Peter, would not Paul have said, first, Popes ; secondarily,
*Acts viii, 14. +John xiii, 16. ¿ Ephesians iv, 11.
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Apostles, &c .? But Paul knew of no such an officer. He knew of no head of the church, but his risen Lord, who still walks among the golden candlesticks.
I must confess that I cannot find much of this rock stability in Peter. His testimony on this occa- sion, as to the divinity and sonship of Christ, was re- vealed unto him by God. It was not of himself. Be- sides, he vacillated, when Paul withstood him to the face, and he denied his Lord three times. And to conclude under this topic, the teachings of our Lord are entirely opposed to such assumptions, instituting equality among his Apostles, prohibiting them to assume, or admit, a superiority of power one above an- other.
There was a strife among the twelve at the last sup- per, which of them should be accounted the greatest. Did our Lord say then to quell thisstrife, I have already appointed Peter to that position ? No. "The Kings," said he of the Gentiles, "Exercise Lordship over them ; and they that exercise authority over them are called benefactors, but ye shall not be so," &c .* The Master saith, " But be ye not called Rabbi, for there is one master (one guide or governor) of you, even Christ, but ye are brethren."+ As to Luke xx, 31, 32, these words at the last supper were spoken in view of Peter's coming apostacy, warning him that he should fall below the other Apostles, and the words of John, xxi, 15-17, were spoken to reinstate him in that apostolic office from which he had been degraded by his denial of Christ.
The Scriptures produced for the present infallibility of their church, relate to the time of the Apostles, and to the Apostles themselves. For instance, these promise, "The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things."¿ It is very plain that these promises are limited to the Apostles, and those Disciples, who personally conversed with the Savior, to whom he had spoken, and to whose remembrance the Holy Ghost was to bring those things he had before told them. It
*Luke xxii, 14-26. Matthew xx, 25, 26, 27. +Mathew xxiii, 8. į John xiv: 26. Also xvi: 11-13.
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