and
Compiled by G. Archer Weniger
"Long ago I ceased to count heads. Truth is usually in the minority in
this evil world. I have faith in the Lord Jesus for myself, a faith burned into
me as with a hot iron. I thank God, what I believe I shall believe, even if I
believe it along." (C. H. S., October 16, 1887, Sermons,
33, 575.)
"A chasm is opening between men who believe their Bibles and the men who are
prepared for an advance upon Scripture. The house is being robbed, its very
walls are being digged down, but the good people who are in bed are too fond of
the warmth, and too much afraid of getting broken heads, to go down stairs and
meet the burglars . . . Inspiration and speculation cannot long abide in peace.
Compromise there can be none. We cannot hold the inspiration of the Word, and
yet reject it; we cannot believe in the atonement and deny it; we cannot hold
the doctrine of the fall and yet talk of the evolution of spiritual life from
human nature; we cannot recognize the punishment of the impenitent and yet
indulge the ‘larger hope'. One way or the other we must go. Decision is the
virtue of the hour." (C.H.S., September 1887, The Sword and the Trowel)
"Believers in Christ's atonement are now in declared union with those who make light
of it; believers in Holy Scripture are in confederacy with those who deny
plenary inspiration; those who hold evangelical doctrine are in open alliance
with those who call the fall a fable, who deny the personality of the Holy
Ghost, who call justification by faith immoral, and hold that there is another
probation after death . . . Yes, we have before us the wretched spectacle of
professedly orthodox Christians publicly avowing their union with those who
deny the faith, and scarcely concealing their contempt for those who cannot be
guilty of such gross disloyalty to Christ. To be very plain, we are unable to
call these things Christian Unions, they begin to look like Confederacies in
Evil . . . It is our solemn conviction that where there can be no real
spiritual communion there should be no pretense of fellowship. Fellowship with
known and vital error is participation in sin.? (C.H.S., November 1887, The Sword and the Trowel.)
"It is a great grief to me that hitherto many of our most honored friends in the
Baptist Union have, with strong determination, closed their eyes to serious
divergencies from truth. I doubt not that their motive has been in a measure
laudable, for they desire to preserve peace, and hoped that errors, which they
were forced to see, would be removed as their friends advanced in years and
knowledge. But at least even these will, I trust, discover that the new views
are not the old truth in better dress, but deadly errors with which we can have
no fellowship, I regard full-grown ‘modern thought' as totally new cult, having
no more relation to Christianity than the mist of the evening to the
everlasting hills."
"Let us see to it that we set forth out Lord Jesus Christ as the infallible Teacher, through
His inspired Word. I do not understand that loyalty to Christ which is
accompanied by indifference to His words. How can we reverence His person, if
His own words and those of His apostles are treated with disrespect? Unless we
receive Christ's words, we cannot receive Christ; for John saith, ‘He that
knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.'"
(C. H. S., An All-Round Ministry, 373.)
"The day will come when those who think they can repair a house which has no
foundations will see the wisdom of quitting it altogether. All along we have see that to come out from association with questionable
doctrines is the only possible solution of a difficulty which, however it may
be denied, is not to be trifled with by those who are conscious of its terrible
reality." (C. H. S., July 1889, The Sword and the
Trowel.)
"For Christians to be linked in association with ministers who do not preach the gospel
of Christ is to incur moral guilt. A
"Separation from such as connive at fundamental error, or withhold the ‘Bread of life'
from perishing souls, is not schism, but only what truth, and conscience, and
God require of all who would be found faithful." (C. H. S.,
1888, The Sword and the Trowel, 127.)
"That argument I have heard hundreds of times when people have been urged to come
out of false positions and do the right. But what have you and I to do with maintaining our influence and position at the
expense of truth? It is never right to do a little wrong to obtain the greatest
possible good . . . You duty is to do the right; consequences are with
God." (C. H. S., 1868, Sermon at Metropolitan
Tabernacle.
"Failure at a crucial moment may mar the entire outcome of a life. A man who has enjoyed
special light is made bold to follow in the way of the Lord, and is anointed to
guide others therein. He rises into a place of love and esteem among the godly,
and this promotes his advancement among men. What then? The temptation comes to
be careful of the position he has gained, and to do nothing to endanger it. The
man, so lately a faithful me\an of God, compromises with world lings, and to
quiet his own conscience invents a theory by which such compromises are
justified even commended. He receives the praises of the judicious; he has, in
truth, gone over to the enemy. The whole force of his former life now tells
upon the wrong side . . . To avoid such an end it becomes us ever to stand
fast." (C. H. S.,1888, The Sword and the Trowel).
"Ah, my dear brethren! There are many that are deceived by this method of reasoning. They
remain where their conscience tells them they ought not to be, because, they
say, they are more useful than they would be if they went ‘without the camp'.
This is doing evil that good may come, and can never be tolerated by an
enlightened conscience. If an act of sin would increase my usefulness tenfold,
I have no right to do it; and if an act of righteousness would appear likely to
destroy all my apparent usefulness, I am yet to do it. It is yours and mine to do the right though the heavens fall, and follow the
command of Christ whatever the consequence may be. ‘That is strong meat,' do
you say? Be strong men, then, and fee thereon . . ." (C. H. S. Sermons 1891,
37, 426.)
"As soon as I saw, or thought I saw, that error had become firmly
established, I did not deliberate, but quitted the body at once. Since then my
counsel has been ‘Come out from among them'. I have felt that no pretest could
be equal to that of separation." (C. H. S., The
Sword and the Trowel.)
"One thing is clear to us, we cannot be expected to meet in
any union which comprehends those whose teachings on fundamental points is
exactly the reverse of that which we hold dear. Cost what it may to separate
ourselves from those who separate themselves from the truth of God is not alone
our liberty but our duty." (C. H. S., The Sword
and the Trowel.)
"No lover of the Gospel can conceal from himself the fact that the days
are evil. We are willing to make a large discount from our apprehensions on the
score of natural timidity, the caution of age, and the weakness produced by
pain; but yet seem to be, and are rapidly tending downward. Read those
newspapers which represent the Broad School of Dissent, and ask yourself, ‘How much further could they go? What doctrine remains
to be abandoned? What other truth to be the object of contempt?' A new religion
has been initiated, which is no more Christianity that chalk is cheese, and
this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, palms itself off as the old
faith with slight improvements, and on this plea usurps pulpits which were
erected for Gospel preaching. The Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of
Scripture is derided, the Holy Ghost is degraded to an influence, the
punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the resurrection into a myth, and
yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren, and maintain a
confederacy with them." (C.H.S., Quoted by Russell H.
Conwell,
"It now becomes a serious question how far those who abide by the
faith once delivered to the saints should fraternize with those who have turned
aside to another gospel. Christian love has its claims, and divisions are to be
shunned as grievous sins; but how far are we justified in being in confederacy
with those who are departing from the truth? It is a difficult question to
answer so as to keep the balance of the duties. For the present it behooves
believers to be cautious, lest they lend their support and countenance to the
betrayers of the Lord. It is one thing to overleap all boundaries of
denominational restriction for the truth's sake; this we hope all godly men
will do more. It is quite another policy which would urge us to subordinate the
maintenance of truth to denominational prosperity and unity. Numbers of
easy-minded people wink at error so long as it is committed by a clever man and
a good-natured brother, who has so many fine points about him. Let each
believer judge for himself; but, for our part, we have put on a few fresh bolts
to our door, and we have given orders to keep the chain up; for, under color of
begging the friendship of the servant, there are those about who aim at robbing
THE MASTER. We fear it is hopeless ever to form a society which can keep out
men base enough to profess one thing and believe another; but it might be
possible to make an informal alliance among all who hold the Christianity of
their fathers. Little as they might be able to do, they could at least protest,
and as far as possible free themselves of that complicity which will be
involved in a conspiracy of silence."