ONE RELIGION.
I
ISthere one true and divine religion in the world? The answer of the people in this country generally is, that there is. Touching this answer we entertain not a doubt. There is in this world one religion from God, and of supreme and absolute authority. It covers the whole ground, and leaves not the least room for any other. All others are departures from it, corruptions of it, or amalgamations with something else. That one religion was given by Christ and his apostles. Christ is the Author of it. He is the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the Ending. “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to him.” His religion, and no other, has the divine, the supreme, and the absolute authority in it. There is not one particle of divine authority in any other. All others are usurpations, existing in antagonism and rebellion, and will be overthrown.
The Papal religion is a compound, or an amalgamation of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism, the latter, by far, preponderating. Its great love for, and attachment to the Latin, is in deference to Paganism. While it contains some truth, and some parts of the religionof Christ, it can not be said, in truth, to bethat religion. It is another, a departure, an apostasy; beyond recovery, and the divine command to the people of God involved in it, is to “Come out of her, that you be not partaker of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.” Rev. xviii. 4. God says, “Her sins” (the sins of Mystery Babylon) “have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” This iniquitous system, as a distinct religion, was not in the world for ages after the true religion was established. We need inform no one a little acquainted with the New Testament, that no such being as the Pope was in the church, nor in the world, in the time of the apostles; nor does he appear in the early history of the church at all. We might as well look into the Bible or early history for an account of Mohammed, or the Mormon prophet, as for the Pope. Neither the Pope nor Mohammed appear at all in history, for hundreds of years after the establishment of the only true religion. Nor was there a Cardinal or an Archbishop, during the same period. These dignitaries were notdevelopedtill long after the founding of the New Institution. The entire priesthood of the Papacy, as now found, as also the Nuns and Sisters of Charity, are wanting in all the history, and, we may safely say, in everything written in the early centuries. There is not a trace of them in the Bible, except in prophecy, nor in any writing, for hundreds of years after the apostles. This any man knows who has read and reflected at all.
The idea of the Papacy existing, except in embryo, insidiously coming up, without a Pope, a Cardinal, an Arch-bishop, a Bishop, a Priest, aNun, or Sister of Charity, for centuries after Christ, is one of the most preposterous things ever imposed on the credulity of mankind. Yet the very mention of these dignitaries is lacking in all the writings of several of the early centuries, either in the Bible or out of it. There is not a trace of them in any writing of the period of which we speak, Jewish, Christian, Infidel or Pagan. There is nothing clearer than that the Papal religion came up too late to have the least claim to be the true religion. The same is true of the Mohammedan religion. The true religion was in the world long centuries before Mohammedanism had an existence. It was born too late to be the true religion.
The true religion was born in Jerusalem. The Papacy was born in Rome. Rome has been its seat—its Eternal City. It did not begin in Jerusalem, but in Rome. Mohammedanism was not born in Jerusalem, but in Mecca. It did not originate with Jesus but with Mohammed. A religion not known till hundreds of years after Christ and his apostles, most unequivocally is not the true religion. We need not trouble the reader with the mention of any religion, born at a later date, in another place, or originating with another person. Such a religion certainly has no claim to be the true one. The true religion originated with Jesus, in Jerusalem, and in the time of Christ and the apostles. Any religion that did not originate with Jesus, in Jerusalem, and in the time of Christ and the apostles, and that does not appear in the accounts found on the pages of the New Testament, nor any writings of the first three centuries, is out of the question. If the very name of any religion, the person with whom it originated, and other importantmatters connected with it, are not found in the Bible, nor a trace of it in history for hundreds of years after Christ, it is out of the question.
Is there any way to determine what the true religion is? Is it anywhere distinctly set forth, revealed and embodied in writing, so that we can find it separate from everything else? It is distinctly set forth by Christ and his apostles, separate from everything else. They revealed it as complete religion in itself, containing all things necessary to life and godliness—the final the last will of God to man. It is the culmination, the embodiment and consummation of infinite wisdom and goodness in one religion, for all nations of men that dwell on all the face of the earth. Can we find it? Can we tell what it is? Can we practice and enjoy it? We claim that we can find it, practice it and enjoy it. Can we determine what it requires us to believe, what it requires us to do, and what it promises us? If we have to say no to all this, we are in a deplorable condition truly. But we claim that we can find the true religion, determine what it is, practice and enjoy it; that we can determine what it requires us to believe, what it requires us to do, and what it promises us. This being so, there is not an excuse for any man being irreligious, taking up with a wrong religion, thinking that something is the true religion that is not, believing something that it does not require, doing something it does not command, or hoping for something it does not promise.
There is one book in which the religion of Christ is set forth. That one book is the Bible. In that book the one religion, the only true religion, is set forth; set forth correctly by the unerring Spirit ofall revelation and all divine wisdom. Not another religion is found in that book, now in force. No man goes to that book to find an account of the Pope, a Cardinal, or an Archbishop of the Papal type. No man of intelligence goes there to find an account of Mohammed, or the Koran. No man of intelligence goes to the Bible to find an account of the Church of England, its origin, rise, or any part of its history. No man goes to the Bible to find an account of Lutheranism, its origin, rise, or any part of its history. There never was a Lutheran before Martin Luther lived, in the sixteenth century. No man goes to the Bible to find an account of the origin of Presbyterianism. There never was a Presbyterian before John Calvin. No man goes to the Bible to find the origin, rise, or any part of the history of Methodism. There never was a Methodist before John Wesley. We do not go to the Bible to find an account of George Fox, Ann Lee, Joe Smith, etc.; nor of Quakerism, Shakerism, or Mormonism. These persons are not Bible characters, and these religions are not Bible religions. They came not into existence till long ages after the last words of the Bible were written. The true religion had been in the world ages before these were born. This ends all controversy about their claims to be the true religion. The true religion was a finality. In its closing words it forbids any addition.
There is not an item in any religion in the world that is right that did not come from the Bible. All parties admit that all that comes from the Bible is right, and all that does not come from the Bible is without authority. Their differences are about what is not in the Bibleand not about what is in the Bible. They all believe the Bible, but they do not believe what each other have in their other books that is not in the Bible. It is not the Bible that makes the Baptists, for there is nothing in the Bible about the Baptists, and then the Episcopalians have the Bible and believe it as much as the Baptists do, and it does not make them Baptists. It is not the Bible that makes Episcopalians, for the Presbyterians have the Bible and believe it as much as the Episcopalians do, and it does not make them Episcopalians. It is not the Bible that makes Presbyterians, for there is nothing in the Bible about Presbyterians, and then the Methodists have the Bible and believe it as much as the Presbyterians do, and it does not make them Presbyterians.
The movement about the beginning of this century was not to establish a new church, or a new religion, but to return to the Lord, find the old religion and the old church; receive, believe and practice what the old religion, as set forth in Scripture, requires, and nothing else. No movement can go back of this, nor rise above it, if it does what it claims. What remains for us, is to stand to it, maintain it and carry it out practically and faithfully.