“ROYAL PROCLAMATION”
By Elder Mark Green
[This article was written at the request of a reader from Tennessee.]
Hymn No. 643 in The Good Old Songs is to the hymn tune “Royal Proclamation.” It speaks very poignantly of a time of strife and declension in Zion. Perhaps we see much of that today. Difficulties in the church have always been around, and we have our share in this generation. We shall look at a few expressions from that hymn.
“See the proud, assuming spirit some among us now inherit; striving who shall have dominion, slaves to popular opinion.” Those who would be great in the church must be the least of all. We are not to be as the kings and politicians of the earth, but we grow great as we grow small. Those who are the humblest stand tallest in the kingdom of God. A “proud, assuming spirit” will cause strife in the church every time. Particularly today do we see the attitude that “we are wiser than our fathers.” I have trod that path in the foolishness of youth, and it is suicidal. God save us from proud men who court popular opinion. Such will always cause trouble in the church.
“See the world and church uniting in the work of proselyting; wood and hay and stubble bringing to build up the gospel kingdom.” The true church of the Lord Jesus has ever been strictly separate from other religious orders. This is one of the identifying marks of the church. Many today seemingly do not like to be thought of as “behind the times” or “old fashioned,” and so have followed the popular religions of the day in their practices and attitudes. We ought to turn away from those things, for they will only harm the church, not help it. If God had intended the church to be like worldly religions, He would have set it up like worldly religions, but it is markedly different, and so it should stay. We are, after all, Primitive Baptists.
“See the train of ‘means and measures,’ filthy lucre, worldly pleasures, honors, titles, wealth and numbers, all combined to gain more members.” We all rejoice when God’s little lambs come home to the church, but an inordinate focus on numbers will always tempt us to conform ourselves to the world’s methods. After all, if they are able to swell their rolls by all their fancy parades of activities and auxiliaries, should it not work for us, too? Yes, we could gain more members by doing that, but it would be fatal to the church. God would not tolerate it. If we are looking to our own strength and popularity instead of to Him, we will see His chastening rod. The “means and measures” resorted to by the religions of the world are a fatal distraction from the true and pure religion which was set up by the Lord Jesus Christ.
“See the wide-spread desolations: churches and associations, once so happily united, now are like a house divided.” One of the great calamities of the last twenty years has been the number of old, historically-significant associations which have ceased their annual councils and worship services together. What a tragedy! What a sad thing that brethren cannot get along well enough to meet together one or two weekends out of the year to speak together of the wonderful works of God, to take council together regarding their mutual concerns and to worship God and hear visiting preachers from around the country! What a wonderful privilege these meetings are! How sad to see them cease, but that is what a proud spirit will cause! If we would walk together, then we must walk humbly and with consideration for the feelings of our brethren. Those who say they do not need the council of their brethren presume to be much wiser than I feel to be. I need to be associated with wise and sound brethren. I need their advice and I rejoice to be named among them. To that end, I pray that God will allow me to live humbly among them the rest of my days on this earth. The next session of our association here at home (the Salem) will be the 164th. What a wonderful blessing that Old Baptists in the hills of western Arkansas have been able to meet together for that many generations! What a treasure to pass down to our children!