CTTHÌHTI A. N
I know of no
their hearts.' When “ the perfect, are
law of lilierty ” is in the .minds and principle l»y which anything that
Ye Are Not Under 'Law, But hearts of men, th6y will’ yield a is morally wrong for an ungodly
Under Grace.”
complete and loving obedience to man, could l»e morally right for a
all TR requirements, and not seek. godly one. On the contrary, 1 be-
REPLY TO ELDER 3. 0. ADAMS BY K. H. MOSS.
Jan vadLulhiui i
ing. that .JJiUA— lieve That th^^lly. nians moral,
are “ weak and lieggarly,” “ statu obligation is as much greater ami
Listen to this farther, “ In the
tory and commanded,” and that as more binding, as his profession is
world and in the flesh we plow ami
God’s freemen they are above and greater and better than the un
sow and reap ; we buy and sell,
free from, and not under them. godly man’s. TAvould think it im
and come under the law of mar
One of the crying evils of our portant under any circumstances,
riage, and are freed from the law of
times is the laxity of sentiment that the teaching of our brother-
marriage.” _There is- nb mistaking^
imrh’-'rTnivtrtirwr *hr- regard-to thr- -hood on -t h is siUqee-t, - should-be- w+-
the import of this- language. It
marriage obligation, and the con derstood, but that importance is
clearly asserts tliat the law of
sequent frequency of divorce and greatly magnified by the appear
Christ is silent on the marriage
remarriage. This evil has been ance and teaching-of the articles
relation,.and that men are free and
commented upon ami deeply de- under review, and while I greatly
bound, as Abe. Jaw .of the State
ÏJor(jdçT>yJneIT’oFTIie" \u)rTd?wTiô ‘regR*F" the“"fiecessT^T”Salt do^Tw"
frees and binds them, which is bad
contemplated its results only as less than to oppose such teaching
enough, or worse still, as they are
they affected the stability of men’s, with all my strength and power.
free and bound by their own wills ;
social relations, and the welfare of 1 must lie allowed to respectfully
for Paul is quoted entirely out of
society. To what extent its evils protest against the application of
connection, “ Let him do what he
would have reached by this time, such expressions as “foolish Gala
will he sinneth not.” If it were
dad it not been for the saving salt tians,” “ teachers ” (?) “ does greatly
true, that the most important rela
of the law of Christ, and its en err not knowing the Scriptures,”
tion of this world was completely
forcement upon the hearts and con “is not sufficiently instructed in
ignored by our Savior in bis law,
victions of men by his servants, it the kingdom of God,” tec., to such
it would be a reproach against his
men as those from whom I have
wis+lom-aud law, from which they is impossible to tell.. Certain am I,
that with ati that they have done; quoted, "“and, Indeed, ~to all our
could never recover, and the in
to stay the evil, it is yet of fcar> writers ami teachers^ If necessary
fidel would have a weapon indeed
It 1 could ffrrnish a long list from the
fully alarming proportion
It is entirely foreign to all the facts
destroys the sanctity of the mar Campbells onward. . I,n my humble
in the case. The lan (uage of Jesus
riage vows and obligations Men judgment Bro. Adams has entirely
already quoted regulates the mar
and women; lightly and flippantly, misapprehended the basis, seat, or
riage relation, for all men and all
take upon themselves these obliga ground- of difference Itetween the
time. Read 1 Cor. 7 ; Eph. 5 : 22-
tions, and repeat the vows, calcu law of Moses and the law of Christ
33 ; and 1 Peter 3: 1 -7, and see
lating that if they find them dis- in his articles ; he has scarcely, if
how clear and emphatic is tire law
tasteful or unpleasant they can at all, touched upon the reasons for
in the true tabernacle or church of
dissolve them, and try again. It the doing away of one and the
God for the marriage relation. That
destroys the home, brings great and bringing in of the other. lie has
marriage is a divine, and not a
irreparable evils and sufferings entirely mistaken the nature of
human institution, is so clearly
upon innocent children. It paves Christian freedom. He teaches
taught in the Scriptures, that it is
the way for scenes of violence and that the Mosaic dispensation was
regarded by all Christians as a ro-
bloodshed, as witness the shooting all law, while Christianity is all
matic truth. That God should
to death of A. D. Richardson, by grace, that the one was all flesh,
have instituted this relation, and
the real husband of the woman, and the other all spirit, that the
then left it to the powers that be
who had sought and obtained in laws of the one were all carnal or
to regulate is clearly absurd. He
fleshly commandments, and the
has, in his law, regulated the rela Indiana a divorce from him because
she preferred Mr. R to him. And laws of the other all spiritual prin
tions which men have established,
see how evils multiply, themselves. ciples, that the laws of the one
as governor and governed, master
H. W. Beecher desecrated and were written on paper-wliileaTI
and slave. How much more then
trailed in the dust, the banner of the laws of the other are written in
would he regulate what he had
Christianity by perfarnwny the the mind and heart. Making the
himself instituted. He says, “ We
marriage ceremony between these last first and the first last, I shall
may engage in all these earthly
try to show his misapprehension
things ” as godly men or Christians, two, while one of them lay upon
and
mistake by developing the
and if “ the perfect laws of liberty ” his death bed. When men of the
world notice, write against; ami teaching of the Scriptures upon
control our hearts in all things I
deplore these things, where should these points. I shall affirm ami
can truly say with Paul “ Let him
try to prove that God has, in * all
do what he will he sinneth not.” the Christian be fltlnd* ? What
ages and in all his dealings with
How can “ the perfect law of should lie bis attitude toward them?
Certainly he should not advocate men, demanded the heart and mind,
liberty ” control men’s hearts, un
positions which would make the ami that he has written his law in
less in their lives they obey it ? If
the mind ami heart, in the Patri
they should follow the teaching I matter almost infinitely worse, by
archal and Mosaic dispensations, as
destroying
one
of
the
greatest
safe
am opposing, and thus entirely
well as in the Christan. In the
ignore arid dis» egard’ one of its guards that God has placed around
this institution, in giving nien the 11th chapter of Hebrews Paul
most important moral laws and law of the Gospel regulating it. gives a long list of godly men, be
obligations, in their life and con Bro. Adams may say that he means ginning with Abel, who acted by
duct, it would I xj worse than useless that only godly men are free from faith. .As faith works through
to talk about that law coritroling this law, and that ungodly men love, (Gal. 5; 6), and cleanses the
Original Contributions.
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heart (Acts 15.: 9,) it will be ap
parent at once that the law of God
was in their minds ami hearts, and
that the law of love was'-in twee
from man’s creation, or in both
Patriarchal and Jewish dispensa-
tionsT Read the 4th, 5th aiuf 6th
chapters of Deut., while I note
4th and 6th, “ Keep, therefore, and
do them, for this is your wisdom
and your understanding,” verse 9 :
“Only take heed to^thyself and
.
I
forget the things which thine eyes
have seen, and les“t they depart
from thy heartverse 29 : “ But
if from thence thou shalt seek the
Evjro Uly UuHTJm’U STiait “ nTid’TiliIT*™
if thou seek him with all thy heart
and with all thy soul. 5 : 27, “ Oh
that there w&tf1 such a heart in
j
them, that they would fear me and
keep all my commandments al
ways.” 6: 5-7, “And thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all
thine heart and with all thy soul
ami with all thy might; and these
words which I command thee this
day^shaTT he in thine heai t, and .. ~ tt
thou shalt teach them diligently to
j*:.
thy children.” 11: 1, “Therefore,
thou shalt love-the Lord tliy God,
and- keep his charge and his
statutes and his judgments and bis
commandments al way.” 30: 6,
“And the Lord thy God toll cir
cumcise thine heart and the heart
of thy seed, to love the Lord thy
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God with all thine heart, and with
I
all thy soul that thou mayest live.’’
Lev. 19: 18,“ But thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself, I am the
Lord.”
These quotations demonstrates
that God demanded men’s hearts
and. minds in the law of Moses;
that the Jews were under the law
of love ; that that law consisted of
statutes and commandments; that
the measure of love was the keep
ing of the commandments; that
under the law of Moses the true or
real circumcision was that of the
heart, as Paul so truly declares,
I
and that the law of Moses so far
from consisting entirely of carnal
and fleshly commandments, was
also highly spiritual. It could not
have been otherwise, coming as it
did from God. They also clearly
show that God puts Ins laws into
men’s minds and hearts, by having
them written and providing direct
ly and explicitly that they shall I mj
taught to others, by those who re- ,
ceive them by inspiration (as did
Moses and the apostles) or those
who learn them from their writ
/
ings, as we, in this day, must do. ”
If there is any difference between
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