This series of lessons has been prepared as an aid to those who wish to see the congregations of Christians everywhere developed according to the New Testament order. Many church members are in no sense disciples -learners-in the school of Christ, and often those who go off after the ways of the world do so because they have never been instructed in the way of the Lord. The people sometimes regard the preachers and elders as cranks, and call what these men of God insist upon as simply their own bigoted notions; and if such people do remain loyal, they do so as a matter of convenience, and not from conviction. It is not unusual to hear some members in the best congregations prate against the cranky,
fogy,
ignorant,
backwoods way of their leaders. Many who do this wouldn’t do it if they realized that these leaders are trying conscientiously to please the Lord and striving jealously to maintain His order. There was once a day when the disciples knew the Bible, and any member of the church would detect the slightest digression from the Scriptures in doctrine or methods; but that day has passed, and we need now to teach again the first principles of the oracles of God.