Comments - The one true religion in the world: the work of the spirit of God in the souls of humankind - New Foundation Fellowship2024-03-29T07:46:55Zhttp://nffquaker.org/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=6286598%3ABlogPost%3A40011&xn_auth=noEllis,
What a rich and powerf…tag:nffquaker.org,2019-12-30:6286598:Comment:403092019-12-30T16:05:05.236ZJohn Jeremiah Edminsterhttp://nffquaker.org/profile/JohnJeremiahEdminster
<p>Ellis,</p>
<p>What a rich and powerful statement you’ve answered my posting with!</p>
<p>I’d say, unless I’m greatly mistaken, that Job Scott rightly named the one true religion that unifies the Church Invisible. I’m delighted to report that I seem to meet my co-religionists everywhere, as if drawn to them by providence, and they are from all over the denominational map! But what Job Scott did <em>not</em> do, in this journal entry, is discuss the as-yet-unfulfilled promise of the gathering…</p>
<p>Ellis,</p>
<p>What a rich and powerful statement you’ve answered my posting with!</p>
<p>I’d say, unless I’m greatly mistaken, that Job Scott rightly named the one true religion that unifies the Church Invisible. I’m delighted to report that I seem to meet my co-religionists everywhere, as if drawn to them by providence, and they are from all over the denominational map! But what Job Scott did <em>not</em> do, in this journal entry, is discuss the as-yet-unfulfilled promise of the gathering of this Church Invisible, or Church Latent, into the Church Gathered, which Lewis Benson so eloquently describes here, drawing together apposite writings from Penington (<em>Works</em>, 4:6-7), Barclay (“The Anarchy of the Ranters,” in <em>Truth Triumphant</em>, 506), and Fox (Epistle 2, <em>Works</em>, 7:17 – as you see, Ellis, I did my homework before answering you!).</p>
<p>And about that promise of a Church Gathered, ruled directly by Christ – I’d be in real despair, looking over recorded history, with its apostasy upon apostasy, and its frightening record of counterfeits, continuing even to this day, if I didn’t know in my heart that if Christ had the power to convert <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>me</em></span>, and Christ has had the power to “ascend far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things,” all quintillion-or-so visible or inferrable solar systems, then He has the power to gather His Church when the right time comes. It may even be in my lifetime! I hope, through obedience to His will, to play a part in that gathering; may He perfect me in obedience!</p>
<p>John</p> John, I was just reading from…tag:nffquaker.org,2019-12-30:6286598:Comment:403072019-12-30T04:15:25.104ZEllis Heinhttp://nffquaker.org/profile/EllisHein
<p>John, I was just reading from Lewis Benson's <em>The Truth Is Christ </em>particularly from his essay on Prophetic Quakerism that says something about the things Job Scot brings up. I would be interested in seeing your comparison of what Job Scott is saying with what Lewis is writing. Below is material from pages 26-28.</p>
<p></p>
<blockquote>Quakerism began as a world crusade for the reestablishment of the true church in all lands and among all peoples.</blockquote>
<blockquote>By 'the…</blockquote>
<p>John, I was just reading from Lewis Benson's <em>The Truth Is Christ </em>particularly from his essay on Prophetic Quakerism that says something about the things Job Scot brings up. I would be interested in seeing your comparison of what Job Scott is saying with what Lewis is writing. Below is material from pages 26-28.</p>
<p></p>
<blockquote>Quakerism began as a world crusade for the reestablishment of the true church in all lands and among all peoples.</blockquote>
<blockquote>By 'the true Church' they meant 'the church which is the spiritual body of Christ ....The head is living, and so are all the members of the body ....Now, no outward thing can make one a member of this body; much less can any outward thing, way, profession, or practice make a church ....So that this is the church now--a people gathered by the life and spirit of the Lord, a people gathered by the life and power from on high, abiding in the power, worshipping in the power, acting in the power, keeping in the holy order and government of life (both inwardly in their own hearts, and outwardly in their assemblings and walkings) by the power. Christ was made a king, priest and prophet, not after the law of carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life; and in the power he gathers, governs and preserves his church, and ministereth from and by his spirit and power in it. Now find this power of the endless life, find a people anywhere gathered by this power, and in this power; there is the church, there is the living body, there is Christ the head, whose dominion and strength is over all, against whom the gates of hell cannot prevail.' In these words Isaac Penington is describing the church as the first Friends believed it ought to be. They believed that they had been called to demonstrate the power of a church so gathered and so maintained to prevail against the gates of hell. They believed that through them God was commencing a new age in which the standard of a purified Christianity would be raised up and the true nature of the church would be demonstrated. 'God,' says Robert Barclay, 'is appearing in ten thousands of his saints; in and among whom (as the first fruits of many more that shall be gathered) he is restoring the golden age, and bringing them into the holy order and government of his own son, who is ruling, and to rule in the midst of them, setting forth counsellors as at the beginning and judges as at first; and establishing truth, mercy, righteousness and judgement again in the earth....'</blockquote>
<blockquote>Outside of their own movement the Quakers looked in vain for a parallel demonstration of this Christ-governed church and although they found millions who professed to be part of such a church they could find no church where the rule and dominion of Christ was actually experienced as a living reality and which could not be caused to yield to some form of worldly power. They knew no church but the Christ-ruled community. 'The world would have a Christ but not to rule over them,' said Fox.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The belief in a divine teacher whose inward word was absolutely authoritative and whose actual administration of His church could be experimentally known was the rock upon which the early Friends built. On this foundation they proceeded to work out a pattern of Christian community life which was able to do away with the ecclesiastical machinery regarded as indispensable by most Christians. The whole purpose was to be a church in which God's command could be taken absolutely seriously. 'This is my beloved Son, hear Him: The Friends allowed that there were some who took this command seriously in all outward gathered churches and that all such were true Christians and might be called a part of the great invisible church. This invisible church exists but there is also the visible gathered church to be considered. The first Friends had no intention of forming what would be no more than another variety of church organization composed of a mixed multitude in which there would be a more or less normal quota of candidates for the great invisible church. Their object was to wait to have the pattern of the true visible church revealed to them. The invisible church is a great amorphous company of saints whose fellowship and power are not brought to full actualization because of its intrinsic inability to function as a mighty army that engages with and overcomes the organized opposition of the princes of the powers of this world. If the true church is of such a nature that knowledge concerning it is only accessible in the realm of speculative thought then how can it ever take a stand against its enemies and overcome them? Can there be any real moral and spiritual engagement between this invisible church and the organized evil of the world? The Quakers longed to feel that they were a part of a functioning spiritual organism that was engaged in a great historical mission. In time their longing was fulfilled. They became intensely conscious of being a part of a visible gathered church with a definite mission in the world. In one generation they demonstrated every quality of such a church to a degree unequalled since apostolic times. Over a period of years they developed a pattern of Christian polity that has never failed to furnish an adequate framework for true Christian community where is has been faithfully adhered to.</blockquote>