03.07. INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY IN JESUS CHRIST.

INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY IN JESUS CHRIST. When James O’Kelly withdrew from the Conference, it was no part of his thought to do more than he had done--stand for the right of the preacher to appeal--but having done so much he had to do more. One step called for another, and so step after step was taken, until the path broadened from the right of the preacher to appeal from human authority, to the right of the individual to interpret the Divine Word for himself. Just when this came about is not known. It was pioneer work that James O’Kelly was called to do; the theological forests in which he did his work were overgrown with tall, strong trees of unbending fiber. It had come over from England, prior to the Revolution, and while Wesley was more yielding those to whom he committed the care of the new-born church were as unbending as the oak of mature growth. But James O’Kelly knew the truth, and the truth had made him free, and in that is found the primal fact of religious liberty. Out of his experience of inner connection and communion with God came the self-respect and exaltation, the supremacy of conscience, and the purpose to realize his own place and destiny. When he realized this high prerogative he could admit no more lordship. It was to God alone that be bowed in reverent and loving submission, and humbly said, "Not my will, but Thine be done." With this self-respect and devotion to righteousness came courage and endurance, in the face of persecution and suffering; this secret of liberty and earnest, patient effort has been the common possession of all prophets and martyrs since liberty was first born. It inspired, directed and upheld the Pilgrim fathers, the Puritans, and the Friends, both in the Old World and in the New. It was the guiding star of Roger Williams, of George Fox, of William Penn, and others, as certainly as it was of James O’Kelly, and it may be said that the need of the Church today is leaders filled with the Spirit of God, rather than ones familiar with the plans of modern experts in Church government. But what did he do? What path did he open? What contribution did he make? Wherein is the profit of it all? The answer to all these, and other inquiries of like character is, In what he did for the individual.

It may seem strange, but it is nevertheless true, that the desire for a united church existed in the hearts of many long years before the days of James O’Kelly and his co-adjutors, and many very earnest efforts were made to meet the desire, but the union sought for was based upon a system of theology. It mattered nothing that a man was right in life, if wrong in theology. The effort was to have all men think alike, no matter how diversely they might act. It is now a well-known fact that all such efforts at union only created new divisions, until there were divisions innumerable, and theologies ad infinitum. In that early day men who felt woe is me if I preach not the gospel, soon came to feel woe is me if I preach not the doctrines of my church, and churches, so called, were multiplied, until the land was over-run with sectarian mills, grinding out Christians after the fashion of making pins--all the same length of body and size of head. Indeed the church has not yet learned that creeds are the product of intellectual thinking, and often influenced by personal or sectarian prejudice. The church has yet to learn that by searching, the creature cannot discover its creator. God is not found as the astronomer finds the stars, and fellowship is a finer thing than that which is legislated into being. About the time of James O’Kelly the weeping prophets began to cry--Is there no balm in Gilead: Is there no physician there? Unconsciously it may have been, unintentional it certainly was, that James O’Kelly, and his fellow-laborers, responded to this appeal with the unhushable voice: "Yes, there is balm in Gilead, and there is a physician there," and this is his prescription for the cure of division, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if he have love one for another." It was a dark path on which James O’Kelly made his first footprint, but the path of the just shines brighter and brighter, even unto the perfect day, and it has shone so brilliantly through all the years, that in the light of the present day, creeds, which at one time seemed as eternally fixed as the star in the sky, are rapidly losing their hold upon the heart and life of the church.

Under the ever spreading influence of the tree that has grown up from the planting that day in Baltimore, Maryland, the walls of sectarian churches, once so high that they could not be preached over, seen over, prayed over, sung over, nor thrown over, are now toppling to their fall, and the believers in Jesus Christ are soon to be seated around one common communion table, where they will dwell together in the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace. It is a long, rough road over which we have come, but the goal is in sight. Patience, hope and faith of all progressive minds insure and justify perseverance, while they confidently await the fulfillment of our Lord’s own prayer: "That they all may be one, even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us." The antiquated lines of cleavage which disrupt Christian fellowship are fading out. The Apostle Paul, on divine authority and with fine enthusiasm, proclaimed that in Christ the old dislikes and aversions, or distinctions, would disappear. In Christ Jesus there are neither Jews nor Greeks. Beyond the smoke of doubt and disaffection, scruples and squabbles, the chronic disorder of jealousy and prejudice and all ecclesiastical ambitions, the horizon shows our certain road to the promised land. And withal James O’Kelly was a disturber, a fact to be appreciated, for men who disturb the smooth surface of human society are often sent of God, as was John the Baptist, whose words stirred all Jerusalem. Some men bless the world by aiding in its harmonious development. Others help the world by challenging its social customs, and its religious beliefs. James O’Kelly opened questions which the church had long considered settled, but she has not yet given a satisfactory answer to some of them. He had his weakness, as all men have, but they were as spots on the sun. His life and teaching can never be outgrown. He is still the Christian statesman of the future, and there is no voice from out the past of our church which speaks with greater force and inspiration than that of the man who proclaimed that in all matters of right and privilege, the man in the pew was equal to the man in the pulpit. We acclaim him, and the Christian world will someday acclaim him, A CHAMPION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.