The church; what it is and whence it is.

Front matter

UNITED STATES OF AMERIC A.

THE CHURCH:

WHAT IT IS AND WHENCE IT IS.

Dedication

an Expression of gratitude to Her who Soothed me in Infancy, Instructed me in Adolescence, and Counseled me in Manhood, This Little Book is Respectfully Dedicated

Zo SatnteD /iftotber,

Lucy Foster (Beeedloye) Parker, by her son.

Preface To The Second Edition

In the revision of this little book it was the author's intention to so enlarge it as to include a complete history of doctrines on the same principle as the history of polity contained in these pages; but deferring to those whose judgment he holds in very high esteem, he has abandoned this idea, and reserves the history of doctrines, for which the material is mostly in hand and in manuscript, to the future.

If Providence shall open the way, this long-cherished desire to place before our people a complete and impartial history of our doctrines, as they have been developed by the councils and published in the creeds of Christendom, will be gratified.

For the present we must be content to send these pages out on their designed mission, hoping, from commendations given, that they may do good. The Author.

Lake Charles, La.

Preface To The First Edition

In the preparation of this little volume the author has been moved by convictions of duty, and not by any desire to enter the literary field. He has found no little difficulty in eliminating a class of facts which, though in point, were less appropriate to the purpose in hand than others. If, therefore, those who have given time and study to the subjects treated should feel that there have been too many such facts omitted, we must admit it, and insist that our plan demanded that we pursue the course we have taken.

We have written for the masses — for the plowboys and the shopgirls; for the closely engaged tillers of the soil; for the miner and the factory hands, who have neither time nor disposition to read such productions as the author has waded through (more than one hundred thousand pages) in the production of this little treatise.

Having for a quarter of a century been among the people on missions, on rural circuits, and on extensive districts, we have observed in every place the need of some such work as we have tried to perform. Vv 7 hether or not we have succeeded in meeting the demand is left for the public to judge ; but not, we trust, with that severity which might be meted to those of more experience.

Begging for mercy at the hands of critics, but not such as deny the truth, and trusting in God for his blessing upon our work, we send it forth with trembling. J. A. Parker.

Minden, La., March 14, 1884.

Introduction To The First Edition

In the arrangement of these facts, we have, as is elsewhere stated, been governed by what long observation has dictated to us as a great and deplorable want in our Church.

The appearance of these facts in this form and at this time (centenary year) is merely incidental. We have not attempted to write a centenary book. Other and more skillful hands have that in charge, and we have contented ourself with the hope that we have succeeded in placing before our people, in a cheap form, such facts as are necessary to sustain them in asserting the doctrines of their Church, and prepare them to properly estimate the arrogant claims of others.

Our Church has all along opposed the assertion of some other " Church folks " that the Christian Church was introduced into the world at or about the time of the crucifixion, a declaration which does not find one word of proof in the Bible. Some men may say that our Saviour or John the Baptist or the apostles started the Church, but the Bible nowhere says anything of the kind. On the contrary, it plainly teaches that the Church was in the world long before the Saviour came (Acts vii. 38) ; and instead of being started on the day of Pentecost, " about three thousand souls " were added on that day to them that believed (Acts ii. 41).

It has also been a doctrine of our Church — not written expressly in the twenty-five Articles of Faith, but very clearly set forth by our writers, especially those who have written on the subject of baptism — that the same sacraments exist in the Church now that were in it from the beginning, and without change or modification, except and solely in the manner of expressing the obligation — e. g. , before Christ came the fact of his coming was a matter of promise, and in the future, and the Passover was of a nature to signify the faith of the worshipers in that fact of promise; but since he came and died, our faith in him is expressed not in such way as signifies the future shedding of his blood, but in such a way as signifies that his blood Jias been shed for us. Hence it is clear that the sacrament of the Passover alluded to Christ just as the " sacrament of the Lord's Supper " alludes to him ; and the only new thing about it is that change in the manner of expressing the sacrament which he introduced just before his death.

Moreover, the sacrament of baptism is another manner of expressing the fact which was expressed by circumcision. In the great commission, our Lord established baptism as the universal practice (Matt, xxviii. 19); and in the decision of the apostles (Acts xv.) the obligation to circumcise was discontinued, at least in so far as Gentiles are concerned. As circumcision expressed the obligation of the circumcised to live with God's people and serve him, so when baptism came to take the place of circumcision, it expressed the same fact, the obligation of the baptized to live with God's people and serve him. Now, as children were partakers of that sacrament which expressed the obligation they were under to live with God's people and serve him, and as there has been no change made by our Lord, except in the mere manner of expressing this obligation, our Church has all along given the sacrament of baptism to children. If the twelve apostles were not baptized in their childhood, there is no evidence that they were baptized at all.

All these and other cardinal points in our doctrines have been objected to by asserting something else, which something els3 cannot be proved.

If we show that God had a Church in the world before Christ came, and that that Church had a sacrament for children, then, unless it can be shown that the nature of the Church has been changed, and unless it be shown that God has repealed the law which permitted infants to partake of a sacrament in that Church, we must continue the Church as God gave it.

The object in these pages is to set these and other facts before our people in their true historical character. In order to do this, we have perused nearly one hundred thousand pages of books, besides a vast amount of other literature. In giving the names and dates of origin of the various denominations, we have not tried to give all, but rather to give such as we most frequently find some mention of in our general reading. Yet, we are satisfied that a great number have been mentioned of which the majority of our readers never heard. In this particular we have fears of having overdone onr work. It would have been much less work to have made this little book three or four times as large as it is; but we have aimed at cheapness combined with accuracy. How we have succeeded, the reader must decide. The Author.

Minden, La., March, 1884

From the Separation of the Unbelieving Jews from the Christians to the Rise of the Donatists, A.D. 311 84