Scripture Reading: Isaian 8th Chapter.
Text: "Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son, Now, therefore, behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks". V 7
If you refer to The Water of Life series you will see that both the gentle, nourishing, life-giving power of the water, and their over- flowing, destructive power are used as figures in the Bible. The former to represent the gentle inner working of the given Christ Spirit and Christ Life; and the latter to represent the external force of organized numbers, and human authoritative power.
Christ built His Church absolutely and only on the "Waters of Shiloah which go softly", "The Water of Life", water in the significance of the first figure, representing the silent working of the given spirit and life of God on the individual.
The false church, "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the Earth", is built on the water in its second significance, representing the external power of organized human authority, which is the rightful power of the state in civil things; but which is absolutely forbidden to the church of Christ.
Christ taught that Church and State, and the power of the Church, and the power of the State, should be kept separate. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."
"Ye know that the rulers of the nation’s exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you.
The Church and the State existed for two absolutely different purposes, and as shown above, by two separate and distinct powers; but when each kept entirely to its own work and place, they were mutually helpful each to the other.
The Church was to control, restrain, and actuate people from within by the Divine Spirit of infinite love. The man so controlled, and restrained from within, needed neither the external restraint, or the external compulsion of the state. It is evident, therefore, as the bible states, that if the Church of Christ did its full work upon each and every human life, setting up the Kingdom of God in each human soul, there "would be no place found for the kingdoms of force." But if all of us being entirely Christian would make the state unnecessary, it is equally true that at least half of us must be half-way Christian before the state is possible. NO law is ever capable of enforcement without a public opinion back of it.
In every civil state the people, who are sufficiently restrained and actuated from within by the Spirit of justice and of right to freely want to do right themselves, are the only people who can create the organic force to hold in restraint the unruly and so make civil government possible.
If there are not a sufficient number so held, restrained, actuated and unified from within, anarchy is inevitable.
"The Waters of Shiloah"
This is the trouble with Russia today. We see therefore that if civil governments are to succeed in uniting by force to make the world safe for democracy, it first takes the Christ Spirit in humanity to make democracy safe for the world.
The rightful state exists to restrain by organic, external force. those who are not restrained from within, compelling them to be civil so that men can live together; and thus, to protect all men in the enjoyment of their natural, inherent, God-given rights. natural, civil rights of all men, is the right to worship, or not to worship whatsoever God he may choose, and in whatsoever manner he may choose. When the state protects men in this and all other civil rights thus maintaining order and keeping hands entirely off of religion and the church, it leaves the Church alone to do her own work. Then the state is helpful to the church, for she preserves the quiet and orderly conditions and the civil freedom conducive to the best Christian work.
The work of Christ and of the early Christian Church was entirely individualistic. Through restraining, actuating and transforming the individual from within, by the living Water of the Christ Spirit, they sought to bless the individual, and through the individual to reach and bless society and the world.
As long as the Church remained true to this Christian ideal, not only did the gospel remain pure and go with wonderful power, blessing the individual; but the arbitrary authority of the Roman Empire itself began to crumble before it and this work needed only to go far enough to cause the Roman Government to cease to be and the Kingdom of Christ to take its place. The most patriotic Roman emperors saw this, and believing in Roman institutions, felt they must persecute and extinguish Christianity.
Constantine, coming to be emperor immediately after the greatest of all pagan persecutions under Diocletian, saw that persecution could not down Christianity or preserve the Roman institutions; so, he decided to professedly espouse the cause of Christianity, and bend it to his own uses, making it uphold, instead of undermine the imperialistic Roman Power. The Christians, even thousands of honest ones, were taken off their guard. After the terrible persecutions they had suffered, it seemed to them heaven on earth to have the emperor on their side, and to feel secure from banishment, imprisonment and death.
Constantine was, perhaps, the most astute politician the world has ever known, and nothing could have been more apparently pious and sincere than his talk and his plan. Instead of persecuting Christianity the state was to favour it and protect it and become itself a Christian State instead of a Pagan State, as in the past. Surely a "Christian State" was the "KINGDOM OF CHRIST." The people were caught in the glamor and fascination of the theocratic dream and thought they could set up the Kingdom of Christ by the external force of organic human power. Instead of working within by the Spiritual Christ power in the individual, and through the individual reaching society as in the past; this method seemed altogether too slow now to satisfy their fervid imaginations. They were now to work through the organic power of the state to reach the multitudes of individuals. They ceased to remember that no external force of law, or organic power could ever reach and control more than one-half of an individual, and unfortunately it is always the outside half. You can make Pharisees and hypocrites by law but never a true Christian. God did not save men by law but gave us the Gospel at the expense of the given life of His only begotten Son. Thus, they were led to "refuse the waters of Shiloah which go softly", and to choose the external organic power of the waters of Assyria or Babylon. And just as of old, Babylon came down upon the helpless church in a devastating, overflowing flood.
Says the historian Gavazzi, "A Pagan flood, flowing into the Church, carried with it, its customs, practices, and idols." The Church was so paganized that the pagan philosopher, Faustus said to the so-called Christian Father, Augustine, "Nothing distinguishes you Christians from us, except that you hold your ceremonies apart from us." People today, who are so enthusiastically in favour of a "Christian Nation", say that the state is not going to recognize or establish any Christian sect in preference to other sects but only Christianity itself, as a whole, in preference to other religions; but they fail to recall that this was exactly what the Roman Empire sought and professed to do under Constantine.
And now did it work? As soon as it was known that the state favoured Christians instead of pagans, and that Christianity(?) was the way to political preferment, every political pagan and demagogue who desired position and authority, joined the Church, which first corrupted the Church and then ruined the state. Under these circumstances it became a political necessity to have a judicial decision as to what constituted Christianity, and the first ecumenical, imperial, Christian(?) Council was called. This heightened sectarianism to the ninth power and placed all sects in a race to win influence and secure a decision and be protected and placed in power.
Constantine finally dictated the creed and Trinitarianism became the religion of the state; and they had exactly what they were not going to have, one sect of Christianity established to the exclusion of all other sects. And these established Christians began persecuting all other sects of Christians, exactly as they had been previously persecuted by the Pagans. But Constantine, in the year 330 A.D., was by his sister Constantia, converted to Arianism. Arius was recalled from banishment, Arianism was established over the empire and the persecuted Arians were permitted to satisfy their pious desire for vengeance by persecuting the Trinitarians.
Upon the death of Constantine in 336 the empire was divided between his sons, the East adopting Arianism and the West Trinitarianism, and each was persecuted by the other. All these emperors had to have church Councils to make the people feel they were ruling. These councils were so frequent, and the people were running over the empire to find out what to believe that the conscience of the individual was outlawed entirely, and the situation became so ridiculous that the Theatres were thronged to see the actors and actresses mimic and make a parody of Christianity.
Thus was the church corrupted and the State ruined by the effort to establish Christianity and to create a Christian State in the Fourth Century; and all because professed Christians forsook the "waters of Shiloah which go softly” and rejoiced in the external organic power of human authority, the waters of Babylon swept over them with a destructive flood.
This must ever be the result of the attempt to establish by human authority, a Christian State.
And all this is a lesson of the utmost importance for us today. The theocratic theory, the most fascinating, and the most ruinous theory that has ever taken the minds of men is in the air. The Council for the Federation of Churches is pledged to it. In fact the whole effort of the Council for Federation is an effort to unify and externalize the authority and power of the church, so that men may use this external human power in reaching and controlling the masses of individuals; instead of working in the quiet Christian way of saving the soul of the individual by the waters of Shiloah, and through the individual to society.
It was this forsaking the waters of Shiloah which go softly for external organic power and authority that corrupted the church, ruined the State and made the Papacy. And doing the same thing today will transform the protestant churches into the complete living image of the Papacy and so play into the hands of the Papacy as to heal the deadly wound, the Papal Beast received by the Reformation, and to "cause the world and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast."
The founders of this government knew that there could be no establishment of Christianity above other religions, and no government favouritism shown to Christianity over other religions, without necessitating a judicial decision as to what constituted Christianity, which in the end would inevitably lead to the establishment of some so-called Christian sect above all other sects.
This whole ground was covered by the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and Washington, in his treaty with Tripoli said, "The United States government is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion" and so is not hostile to the Musselman as such.
The warning of the word is for us today; if we forsake the waters of Shiloah which go softly for the waters of Babylon on which the harlot woman sitteth, we shall be overwhelmed by those waters which will come up and overflow all the banks.
"Associate yourselves, O, ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces". Take counsel together and it shall come to nought; speak the word and it shall not stand."
"Say ye not, a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. But Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and let Him be your fear." "Wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and look for him." Isaiah 8: 9- 10; 12 & 17.
George E. Fifield
