In What Points the Church of God Has Always Continued the Same

God has always appointed teachers in His church, and therefore has always had His will proclaimed to the people. This began chiefly in the days of Enos, the grandson of Adam; for then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Genesis 4, verse 26. [n26-1]

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, preached of the judgment and the great day of the vengeance of the Lord. Jude, verses 14 and 15.

Abraham, the father of the faithful, preached of the name of the everlasting God. Genesis 21, verse 33.

Moses preached of the faithfulness, goodness, and righteousness of God, so that his doctrine dropped as the rain, and his speech distilled as the dew. Deuteronomy 32, verses 2 to 5.

David preached of the righteousness of God in the great (God's) congregation, and would not let his mouth be stopped; that is, he would not be overcome by his adversaries. Psalm 40, verse 10.

Afterwards all the holy prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, preached of the laws, punishments, and promises of God, and prophesied of the blessed and happy coming of the Messiah whom God had promised. Read the books that contain their prophecies, all the way through.

After the time of the Prophets, Christ Himself preached of the fulfillment of the time, the coming of the kingdom of heaven, repentance, and faith in the Gospel. Mark 1, verse 15.

The apostles followed the example and the command of their Lord in proclaiming the will of God; and not that alone, but when their departure was near at hand, they appointed others in their place: Timothy, Titus, and the seven teachers in the seven churches in Asia, who also, and Timothy especially, were charged to appoint faithful men who would be able to teach others also. Second Timothy 2, verse 2.

Moreover, so that the church of Jesus Christ might always know by what rule persons were to be chosen for the ministry, the Holy Spirit, through the hand of Paul, has written about this matter and handed it down to those who came after. First Timothy 3, verses 1 to 7; Titus 1, verses 5 to 9.

Besides the office of preaching, which has always belonged to the church, various other articles could be mentioned, in faith* and life as well as in outward worship, which have always held good and must still hold good. But since we think we have pointed out the chief article, by virtue of which above all a church is a church, and by which it is sustained, we will, so as not to bring too much of the same thing, leave the subject here and go on to the stability, durability, and visible discernibility of this church, as we promised at the beginning. [n26-3]