A Trip Abroad: An Account of a Journey to the Earthly Canaan and the Land of the Ancient Pharaohs; To Which Are Appended a Brief Consideration of the Geography and History of Palestine, and a Chapter on Churches of Christ in Great BritainJanes, Don Carlos
Religion
A Trip Abroad: An Account of a Journey to the Earthly Canaan and the Land of the Ancient Pharaohs; To Which Are Appended a Brief Consideration of the Geography and History of Palestine, and a Chapter on Churches of Christ in Great Britain
Janes, Don Carlos
Churches of Christ -- Great Britain; Palestine -- Description and travel; Voyages and travels
During the life of Bro. Timothy Coop much money was spent in an effort
to build up along the lines adopted by the innovators here in America.
Bro. Coop visited this country, and was well pleased with the operations
of the congregations that had adopted the modern methods, and he was
instrumental in having some American evangelists to go to England, and
a few churches were started. I was told that there are about a dozen
congregations of these disciples, called "American brethren" by the
other English disciples, with a membership of about two thousand, and
that it is a waning cause.
The rank and file of these British brethren are more conservative than
the innovators here at home, but they have moved forward somewhat in
advance of the churches here contending for apostolic simplicity in
certain particulars. A few of the congregations use a musical
instrument in gospel meetings and Sunday-school services, and some have
organizations such as the Band of Hope and the Dorcas Society. The
organization of the annual meeting is said to be only advisory. The
following lines, a portion of a resolution of the annual meeting of 1861
will help the reader to form an idea of the purpose and nature of the
organization: "That this Coöperation shall embrace such of the Churches
contending for the primitive faith and order as shall willingly be
placed upon the list of Churches printed in its Annual Report. That the
Churches thus coöperating disavow any intention or desire to recognize
themselves as a denomination, or to limit their fellowship to the
Churches thus coöperating; but, on the contrary, they avow it both a
duty and a pleasure to visit, receive, and coöperate with Christian
Churches, without reference to their taking part in the meetings and
efforts of this Coöperation. Also, that this Coöperation has for its
object evangelization only, and disclaims all power to settle matters of
discipline, or differences between brethren or Churches; that if in any
instance it should see fit to refuse to insert in or to remove from the
List any Church or company of persons claiming to be a Church, it shall
do so only in reference to this Coöperation, leaving each and every
Church to judge for itself, and to recognize and fellowship as it may
understand the law of the Lord to require."
The question of delegate voting with a view to making the action of the
annual meeting more weighty with the congregations was discussed at the
Wigan meeting, but was voted down, although it had numerous advocates.
One of the brethren, in speaking of the use of instrumental music in the
singing, said they try not to use it when they worship the Lord, but I
consider the use they make of it is unscriptural, and it puts the church
in great danger of having the innovation thrust into all the services at
some future time. All of these churches could learn a valuable lesson
from some of our home congregations that have been rent asunder by the
unholy advocacy of innovations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account