Symptoms of a Spiritual Malady
“What were the basic causes of digression which led to the introduction of instrumental music into the worship, and other departures from the truth resulting in the formation of the Christian Church denomination?”
Shortly before the turn of the present century a movement originated in the church of Christ that resulted in what is commonly known as the Christian Church. The view is widespread that the cause of this schism and resultant division was instrumental music in the worship and societies in the work of the church. Technically speaking, this is incorrect. True, these were major differences between those who adhered to the original pattern of things and those who went out from us; yet instrumental music and the societies were effects rather than causes—symptoms of a spiritual malady chronic and fatal in its nature.
Dr. A. W. Fortune, sometime professor in the College of the Bible, Lexington, Ky., and “pastor” of the Central Christian Church of that city, in his book, “The Disciples in Kentucky,” sets forth the factors which led to the division as follows:
“The controversies through which the Disciples have passed from the beginning to the present time have been the result of two different interpretations of their mission. There have been those who believed it is the spirit of the New Testament church that should be restored, and in our method of worship the church must adapt itself to changing conditions. There have been those who regarded the New Testament church as a fixed pattern for all time, and our business is to hold rigidly to that pattern regardless of consequences. Because of these attitudes, conflicts were inevitable.” (Page 383.)
This is, we believe, a fair and impartial statement of the divergence of views that obtained then, and are now characteristic of the two groups. Because of these differences in attitude toward the Scriptures, it was, as Dr. Fortune suggests, inevitable that division should come; and it came shortly before the turn of the present century. Those who had worked and worshiped together in an effort to plant again the cause of primitive Christianity in a land torn by division and cursed by denominationalism, divided among themselves, and the result was that another denomination came into existence. Ironically enough, those whose avowed mission in life was the utter destruction of all denominations became but another denomination, and thus built again the things they had once destroyed! Today the Christian Church admits its denominational status, and glories in the fact!
Instrumental music and the societies were, therefore, simply symptoms of the disease which lurked unseen—outward manifestations of an inward attitude wholly foreign to that which had characterized the Restoration Movement in its inception. Nor did this difference in attitude toward the Scriptures originate with this movement. It is the same as that which occasioned the famous controversy between Luther and Zwingli: whether we are at liberty to do anything not expressly forbidden, as Luther contended, or are bound by what is written, and must, therefore, do nothing for which there is not a “thus saith the Lord,” or an approved apostolic precedent, as Zwingli argued. This, too, is the point of issue between those who insist that the Bible, and the Bible alone, is a sufficient rule of faith and practice, and those who consider it a book of raw principles only, and therefore, adaptable to changing times and conditions. The former have always repudiated creeds, confessions of faith, and church manuals, while the latter have not hesitated to advocate them—indeed, to urge them as legitimate instruments to adopt the truth to present-day conditions. This is the door through which instrumental music, missionary societies, creeds, infant sprinkling, sprinkling and pouring as substitutes for baptism, and many other things admittedly not taught in the New Testament, were brought in. While all have not been as frank as Mr. Beecher, the eminent denominational preacher of an earlier generation, who said he practiced infant baptism for the same reason that he used an ox yoke—he had tried them and both worked—it is yet a fact that this is the real reason why so many things unauthorized by the Scriptures are practiced without question today.
Such an attitude is, of course, wholly foreign to that which characterized those who launched and fought the early battles of the Restoration Movement. Those pioneers of the faith were determined to do nothing for which there is no express command or approved precedent; and they were willing to speak only when the Scriptures speak and remain silent where the Scriptures are silent. So long as these principles were adhered to, unity prevailed, and the cause of primitive Christianity spread with a rapidity equaled only by that of the apostolic age. The Christian Church of today, is therefore, a total apostasy from the teaching of Campbell, Stone, Scott, Lard, and the others who were in the forefront of the effort to restore New Testament Christianity to the world. This, we believe, will not be seriously questioned by many of those who belong to that institution. Certainly those who boast of their denominational status will not insist on maintaining harmonious views with a man who required a daily paper in New Orleans to publish a correction of a statement representing him as the “head and founder” of a great denomination! Declaring that they did him too much honor—that he had always repudiated all human heads and names for the people of the Lord—Alexander Campbell demanded and received a correction of the notice erroneously inserted. Contrast Mr. Campbell’s attitude with that of “Dr. Harwood Miller,” the “permanent pastor” of the National City Christian Church: “Denominations and sects are not wholly or even largely the product of human pride and prejudice and unbrotherliness—a thing entirely wrong could not long endure by the devotion of men—it is unthinkable to condemn all sectarianism as sinful.”
The real cause of division in the body of Christ was, therefore, an abandonment of the principles which had hitherto motivated us. Those who no longer looked upon the New Testament as an all- sufficient guide and rule of faith and practice did not scruple to demand things unauthorized therein, while those who clung tenaciously to the all-sufficiency of the Scriptures as stoutly resisted them; and division was, therefore, inevitable. This, indeed, has been the cause of all departures from the faith since the days of the apostles. Those who regard the Bible as a complete revelation for all time cannot, in conscience, add to or take from its teaching in the smallest particular; while those who consider it as only a mass of raw principles to be worked into shape to fit changing conditions are not restrained by the injunctions it contains against adding to or taking from the holy word, and do not hesitate to do so when the exigencies of the hour seem to suggest it.
This fact is remarkably illustrated in the man who was responsible for first introducing an instrument of music into the church of Christ, L. L. Pinkerton. Said Dr. Fortune: “Dr. L. L. Pinkerton is credited by some with having been the first to make this departure when he introduced a melodeon in the worship of the church at Midway (Kentucky—G.N.W.).” The article on ‘Churches of Christ’ in Religious Bodies, 1926, makes that the beginning of the controversy. This statement is made: “The question as to the use of instrumental music of the church became an issue as early as 1859, when a melodeon was placed in the church at Midway, Ky.” (“Disciples in Kentucky,” pages 372, 373.) The attitude of this man (on whom rests the obloquy of corrupting the worship of God) toward the Scriptures will appear from the following: In 1869 Pinkerton and Shackleford began the publication of the Independent Monthly. In an article on “Bible Inspiration” he denied the theory of plenary inspiration, and criticized Milligan’s “Reason and Revelation,” and said that young preachers who were taught that Ps. 137:9 was inspired would “perpetuate a great many follies in his name.” In an article on “No Immersion—No Membership in a Church of the Reformation” he took the position that while he would only teach and practice immersion, he would be willing to let a man settle the question of baptism for himself. He said he would not thrust his translation of a Greek word between a man’s conscience and his God!
The Christian Church defection thus grew out of a difference in attitude toward the Scriptures. This being true, instrumental music and the societies, plus many more recent innovations, were natural developments, logically to be expected. Unity need never be expected until we come to see eye to eye on the value of the sacred Scriptures.
—-Questions And Answers, Open Forum, Freed-Hardeman College Lectures by Guy N. Woods, pp. 194-196.
Denominational Terminology
Church of Christ Entities by Hugh Fulford
An excellent, insightful, and much needed article for Christians to study and apply today. Published in the Carolina Messenger, March 2008.
The Bible And The Sears Catalog
A number of years ago I taught a class on church history. At the conclusion of the study the class made a tour of various sites in Kentucky associated with the restoration of New Testament Christianity during the last century and the early part of this century. One of the sites visited was the Lexington Theological Seminary. This institution, when it began, was known as The College of the Bible and, for some years, was a citadel for emphasis on, and loyalty to, the Bible. J. W. McGarvey was its leading personality and most influential teacher for many years. However, the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church) gained control of this institution, and its history since then has been one of a continual plunge into the depths of theological liberalism. This was illustrated when I, during our tour, asked the Librarian of the seminary, “Do your faculty members subscribe to a doctrinal policy regarding the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible?” In response he shouted, “No! There are things in the Bible that are not as true as things you read in Sears Roebuck Catalog!” After publishing it for more than 100 years, Sears ceased publication of its catalog a few years ago. However, the Bible lives on. Regardless of the blasphemous attacks of unbelief, there is a Book which will outlive the Sears Catalog (and every other book). It never grows out of date. It withstands the assaults made against it. The word of the Lord endures forever (2 Tim. 3:14-17; 1 Pet. 1:24-25).
Charles Pugh III
