SOUND MEN.
W
WHYdo men regret to hear us say of a man, “He is a gospel man;” “He is a sound man;” “He is a New Testament man.” It implies that there are some that are not “gospel men,” not “sound,” not “New Testament men.” What if it does? Why need any man be troubled about that? Certain men will be suspected of being unsound! Indeed! Must we shut our eyes and think contrary to what we know to be matter of fact, that all are sound? But, you imply that some are not sound! Certainly, and you imply that some are not honest, when you put a lock on your stable, crib or smoke-house, lock and bolt your doors at night, and when you will not trust all men alike. When you say, “I will trust him, his word is as good as his note,” you imply that some other man is not good—that his word is not as good as his note.
But we tell you of A, B, C, D and E, that we have trusted, and they have all paid, and we believe all are alike honest, and will pay. If you are a business man, you will reply, “Yes, and I have trusted many more than that, all of whom paid, but I have trusted a long list that did not pay, and you need not preach to me that all will pay.” So referring to a few men who, on a few occasions preached the gospel faithfully, does not prove thatall do this, or even thatthese fewalways do it.
That we have the men now who are making it a constant and prayerful effort to reproduce the gospel and all its fruits; to reproduce the Church and all its blessings to man; to maintain all things as delivered to us by Christ and his apostles, we rejoice to know. That we have another class of men, who have no heart in this, and have even repudiated the idea, we entertain not a doubt. Those determined to reproduce the gospel of Christ and all its fruits, the Church, and all its blessings to man, introduce no innovations; nothing new and foreign to destroy the peace of the children of God, and are the cause of no dissensions and no divisions. Those standing off are not from among them. They will stand with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with the things of God as set forth in Scripture. We stop not to count the number, whether great or small, nor to consider whether they shall be popular or unpopular, rich or poor. The only question is, are they of God? Does God require that the gospel of his grace, as given by his Son and the apostles, shall be reproduced? Does he require that the church shall be reproduced? We maintain that he requires that the gospel, in all its entirety and completeness, shall be reproduced, and we shall besatisfied with nothing short of it. He requires that the Church, in its entirety and completeness, shall be reproduced. These are matters settled with us. The man whose heart is not in this work, and who aims not at it, is not one with us, nor in sympathy with us.