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4. It is a bone of contention, a source of strife, an entering wedge to rive the churches asunder. It has already brought in more strife, produced more discord, an 1 caused more grief than any other evil. It has been productive of more evil, resulted in more division, and caused more alienation than any other one thing among us, and done more to impede the progress of the gospel. Can he be a friend to the cause, no matter how much he means it, who will press such a source of evil into the worship?

5. The movement is factious, and subversive of fundamental principle, of clear scriptural and pure worship, and should be repudiated and utterly avoided by all Christians. It is of the spirit of the world, and of ruin, and will open the way to ruin for us all, if we do not repudiate and avoid it. We must maintain the worship in its purity, as the Lord gave it, and permit no perversions of it.

6. It is a revolutionary movement. It involves a principle that opens the floodgates for all innovations-the observance of Christmas as a holy day, etc.-without limit; the admission of anything not forbidden in Scripture, involves a principle that opens the way to surrender every principle we hold, and leaves us without a reason for our existence as a religious body.

7. "Well, the churches generally are going into it, and it is a foregone conclusion that they will have and use the organ,' and it is useless to stand against it." No, "the churches generally" are not gone into it, nor are they going that way. We do not know the number of churches in the United States; but doubt not that six thousand would be a low enough estimate. How many of them use the organ in worship? We do not know this with certainty, but probably not more than from

one hundred and fifty to two hundred, and certainly nct five hundred. The organ party is yet small, and would amount to but little, had it not found way into a few places of note and prominence. There are still whole States that have not an organ in the Church. We think there is not one in use in Canada, not one in Virginia, Tennessee, nor Texas, that we have heard of; scarcely any in Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and many other States. The organ is still the exception, not the rule; and the party is small. The main body are true to the great principles of reformation-to the divine purpose of returning to and maintaining the original practice in all things.

8. We are anxious to maintain the original practice in all things, so that the way would be clear to invite. the people to come to the Lord, with the full assurance that not a burden should be laid on them, not a humanism imposed on them, and so that they could see their way clear, to come up to the assembly of the Lord, and participate in the pure and holy worship, as the Lord gave it-and this we intend to maintain. If others will not, on their own heads be the consequences; we will not be partakers with them. We are for the peace of the Church; the pure worship and true worshipers, who worship in spirit and in truth.

We have done a great work in the past fifty years, in building up so many congregations and setting them in order, and it is a wonderful mortification to see that great work impeded by human expedients-specially such as are borrowed from the pope. We do not believe the churches of the Lord will yield to this wordly scheme, thus pervert the worship, and retard the greatest work on earth!

SERMON No. XIX.

THEME. THE PROGRESS OF RELIGIOUS REFORMATION.

WHEN we look through the account given in the Bible, and to the reports from other sources, of the wonderful rise and triumphant march of the religion of Christ, first in Judea, then in Samaria, thence to Cesarea, and, still later, along the coasts and the entire length of the Mediterranean Sea, and throughout the Roman Empire, in some sixty-five years from the time it was fully unfurled and proclaimed to the world, one is impressed with the idea that it would soon extend over all the earth, and that the knowledge of God would soon fill the earth, as the waters do the mighty seas. But, alas! the mystery of iniquity already worked, even in the time of Paul. "The man of sin," in embryo, al ready existed. The time was coming when the people would not hear sound teaching, but would turn away their ears from the truth, and be turned to fables; wher they would heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. It was clearly foretold that the time would come when men should be lovers of themselves, proud, boasters, and despise those that are good.

This time came, and vain men rose and began to worm themselves into power, and lead away disciples after them. They attempted to adorn the pure and holy religion of our Lord with Pagan philosophy, and seek the support of moneyed influence, the State, and all kinds of worldly power. They attempted utilizing

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worldly influences, amalgamating the world and religion more and more, till they had, as they phrased it, “a Christian Emperor." Worldly men thought they were succeeding finely; all was going well, and suspected nothing till the man of sin had completely gained the ascendency. Knowledge became the property of the few; ignorance became the heritage of the masses. The overseers grew into priests; the aggregated churches in a given district into bodies, and he who presided in the meetings of these bodies was not an ordinary overseer, but an overseer of overseers. They extended the aggregation to a State, or a Province, and he who presided in the State Meeting, or Provincial Meeting, was an archbishop, or an arch-overseer. They then extended the aggregation, or confederation, to a nation, and he who presided in the National Meeting was a cardinal. They then extended the aggregation to all the churches throughout the world, and he who presided at one of these General Councils was a pope. He was "the visible head of the Church on earth"--and in the year 666 a full-grown pope was inaugurated, and recognized as the "Universal Head," "His Holiness," "Lord God, the Pope."

This was the work of organization going on to perfection, and culminating in the great apostasy. While this work of confederation was going on, making great organizations, after the form of civil and military bodies, and great offices and great men, they were in the same ratio making ignorant masses of the people. This work of iniquity prevailed till the Bible, and the knowl. edge of it, were taken from the people, and not only darkness, but gross darkness covered the public mind. This brought the millennium of the Papacy. The prospect was that the light from God was crushed out; that

darkness had triumphed; that hell had prevailed! The question now was, "Can these dry bones live?" Can the truth of God rise out of all this, lift up poor hu manity once more, and give it one more opportunity? The clouds are dark, and the prospect appears gloomy.

Still, the seed of the kingdom is not dead, and may yet be sown in the hearts of the people, and bring forth much fruit to the honor and glory of God. Seeds have been known to have been buried in ancient ruins for three thousand years, and when brought forth to the sun, the moisture and surface of the soil, to grow fresh and vigorous as last year's seed. So this seed-the word of God-though long buried, and kept from the hearts of the people, when dug up and sent forth into good and honest hearts, will spring up and grow up into everlasting life.

We desire to consider some of the movements in Divine Providence, in lifting up humanity out of this great darkness, and opening up the gospel to the world. once more. It cost immense labor, sacrifice, and no little of the best life and blood of the human race, to accomplish the work. Some fifty millions of martyrs have evinced their honesty in their struggle with the Papacy, in the various movements in different parts of the world against the power of darkness. We can only grasp, in a rapid sketch, such as is possible in one short. discourse, a few of the chief items and actors, and make passing allusions to them, in the progressive steps in rising up out of the valley of dry bones to which we have referred. We do not propose giving definite dates, or accurate and definite particulars, but general outlines, with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes; nor can we more than allude to some of the principal events and men.

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