Читать книгу A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin - Бенджамин Франклин - Страница 26
NO DIVISION CAN COME.
ОглавлениеNO general division can come. The main ground we occupy precludes the idea of any general division. A vain man, or a bad man, may occasionally scatter a flock, tear up a church and ruin it. But, then, such a man will soon find his level and come to nothing, or become surrounded by influences strong enough to control him. There is no machinery of which he can get hold to produce a general division, nor is there any place where an entering-wedge can be introduced to rive us asunder.
No man can depart from the doctrine sufficiently to produce a division, without losing his influence, so that he will have no power to do anything more than lead off an insignificant faction, such as will die out in a short time. Take any one of the elements now annoying us, and tell us how a general division can grow out of it. You will see that it can not be done. Take, for instance, the question about evangelizing and the different methods insisted on, and inquire how we can divide on it. One man is for this plan or that, and goes for it. Another man is not for this plan or that, and goes against it. The one for it, works for it, and the other does not. After a little space the difference will wear out, and they will fall into the same channel and work together. Different schemes will be tried, found inefficient and useless, and be abandoned. After the brethren have time to mature the matter they will come round to the right ground and go on in harmony. Unscriptural things will be discarded, impracticable things will prove failures, and shallow things will be treated with contempt. Men that are unlovely, of bad spirit, spiteful and revengeful, will soon develop themselves to the satisfaction of all. True men—men of faith and love and zeal—will go on and work where the Lord shall open the way for them; not for man, nor to please man, but for the Lord, and to please the Lord, and the work will go on. Men that will not work, that have no work in them, but want large pay, will seek fat places, and get them, if they can, and if they can not, croak about our lack of system, disorder, want of organization and the like, pine away and vanish out of sight.
But may we not have a general division about the organ? Not at all. We have none among us that will exclude us if we will not fellowship the organ. This is all the difficulty there is. Some of us will not worship with the organ nor fellowship it. Will not that divide us? Not at all. Those who would rather have their organ in their worship, than those who will not, and can not worship with it, will have it, and let those who can not worship with it, stay away. Those who can not worship with it will seek some place where they can worship without it, and worship as they know to be according to Scripture. They know this to be safe.