This essay was written by Darren Russell, a frequent contributer and member of the Church of the Firstborn. Want more from Darren? You can read some of his work and research here:
http://www.globalsunshine.com/COTFBhistory.htm or click on the "Guest Bloggers" tab to find his email address and contact him directly.
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For my friends,
brethren, and sisters, who have been raised in the Church of the First Born or
the Followers of Christ, greeting is not much of an issue. We just always did
it! Or at least we have been taught that, and by faith accept that, since we
can see in black and white that it was what the apostles did. What we perceive
to be a totally natural and godly act among ourselves though has in many
circles become an embarrassment when other outsiders are present. I have even
heard some ministers who refuse the kiss in public claiming it is not right to
"give what is holy to the dogs." Why this modern temperament?
I recently uncovered a handful of newspaper articles that pertained to this
specific belief among us. From them I have gathered that we have not only
greeted from earlier times, but also that it has not been well received by
outside churches for quite some time.
One humorous article titled "Epidemic of Kissing" appeared in the
Trenton Evening Times of July 21, 1908 describing an Indiana congregation. It
says, "Kissing is epidemic here of late among followers...whose sect is
known as the Church of the First Born and measures today are threatened to stop
the practice. Every member of the sect has the right to bestow a sacred
kiss...and a too plentiful resort to the mouths of the sect's adherents have
awakened the authorities to the necessity of action." No commentary needed
here.
In March of 1896 around the U.S. in various papers was the headline,
"Religious Kisses". It was a fairly small blurb but described how the
brethren in Woods and Garfield counties would "after the sermon embrace
and kiss each other." It had caused quite an "excitement among the
people."
(Anyone wanting
to see a scan of the original article can do so at http://www.globalsunshine.com/COTFBhistory.htm Just look under favorites and find
kissing, it will open up under a pdf file; you can thank Bro. Bill Porter for
all his effort in producing this site dedicated to some Church of the First
Born history and I would suggest looking at some of his other items).
In the Winfield Courier, July 20, 1876 we have a description of " two or
three traveling preachers, who call themselves Christ’s disciples. They are
reported as healing the sick and restoring the infirm to health... and observe
other unusual habits. Several converts have joined them, five of whom were
baptized in the Walnut, near Moore’s mill, last Sabbath." Now explicitly
the "unusual habits" is not known, but it would be a pretty safe
assumption to believe it was the "kiss of charity".
The Arkansas Traveler of May 8, 1878 reported about the
same group that "Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Cochran and the two Misses Moore were
baptized and confirmed into the church of the Followers of Christ, last Sunday.
After the baptizing there was a feet washing and love feast at Mr. E. Osborn’s,
and preaching at the Smith schoolhouse at early candle light." The
brethren followed the same scriptural pattern as the Dunkards, many of whom were
joined to the faith at that time. A typical love feast was a potluck where
everyone could enjoy each other's company, and provided space to make any
confessions or amendments that may stand in the way of communion. The actual
Lord's supper was began in the evening, begin with a foot washing, follow
through with the Bread and Wine and terminate with prayers and the holy kiss.
There were some variations from this scheme, but they were trivial and usually
revolved upon questions of administering the various parts of the Lord's Supper.
One of my favorite and probably the most flattering news stories of them all
emanated from The New York Herald in August of 1836. I have two copies of it,
from different papers carrying the story that read the same but have not seen
the actual Herald copy. So even this favorable story was something of a
sensation in its day! The reporter described how he had attended a gathering
that met inside a home rather than in one of the fancy cathedrals of New York
City. He described how the service was conducted and also how the young and the
unconverted, including himself, were set apart from the rest. How he also
observed the ordinance supper. He witnessed the culminating greeting with a
holy kiss only to reflect that if he wasn't a heathen and disallowed he would
position himself between two of the fairest ladies of the group. This writer
had an obvious degraded view of the ritual but probably one that fits most
concerning it even today. Afterwards he questioned them concerning their name, origin
and doctrine. They did not consider themselves as from either the Catholics or
Protestants, but as being in a direct apostolic line. They found no scriptural
injunction for either cathedrals or paid ministry.
April of 1819 an Elder Ephraim Stinchfield of the Free Will Baptists wrote
concerning some independent brethren, whose meetings he had been attending,
with the idea of reclaiming them to his denomination. "After attending
five more meetings among them in different places, and hearing of another
considerable society of the same class, in the town of Arundel, on the west
side of Saco river, we went to visit them, and called at a private house in the
neigbourhood of the society; inquired after the leading, or most inteligent men
among them; hoping, if we convinced any of that description, they might be
useful in convincing or undeceiving their neighbors. Having obtained the
necessary information as to this particular, we were directed to the house of
one of the society who was reputed to answer the above description. The
landlady, his wife, met me as soon as I entered the room, and wished to know
whether I had the courage to kiss her. I declined, and took a seat, for which
she called me a coward."
One Jacob Cochrane was even so far brought down by him that he was imprisoned
for adultery, the only genuine evidence against him being that he had
acknowledged greeting his sisters with a holy kiss. His wife stood by him
throughout the ordeal, and many others who maintained his innocence. After his
release he left Maine for New York. His biggest crime, mentioned by Stinchfield
in the beginning of his book, may be that he and the brethren with him had
converted as many as 2000 souls away from the different denominations in the
space of 3 years. It was claimed that it was a revival that surpassed even
Whitefield's efforts. These brethren never believed in paid ministry, contrary
to all others, and 2000 persons missing off their church rolls left the
standing denominations disdaining this intrusion by an apostolic
sect.Stinchfield never made progress towards them and later used this incident
and other similar ones to calumniate the leading ministers of the sect.
Most of the paper trail dives off at this point concerning the spiritual
ancestry of the Church of the First Born, especially in regards to the
greeting. That it was practised long before this is really not to be doubted.
The brethren were extremely literal in their interpretations of scripture and
it hardly seems that a group which advocated literal "laying on of
hands" for the sick's recovery would refrain from a simple act of kissing.
In fact in the 1730s the only other sect of people to share in communion with
the brethren was the Dunkards, which insisted in that part of communion. The
Dunkard ministers were on such friendly terms with our faith that they on at
least one occasion sent a group of ministers from Pennsylvania all the way to
Connecticut to visit their brethren of like faith. When one of the Elders of
the faith passed away in Groton, Connecticut a few decades later he was even
remembered by them and was honored with an obituary in their own sponsored
newspaper, usually reserved for only of their community. To my knowledge the
most significant distinctions between the two sects is that the Dunkards
immerse thrice for each person of the Godhead, began in Scwarzenau ,Germany in
1708 through a self-baptism, and practised their "holy kiss" only on
members of the same sex. I personally believe that their many visits to the
brethren were for the sake of rectifying their lineage, but that is off the
theme of this note.
So having established the likely use of the greeting by our brethren since its
establishment on American soil, and the opposition to it by others for the
entire duration, I'd like to share what I have found from the Scriptures down
to its standing in previous history.
So how important is it that we practice this?
Psalm 2:12 (King James Version)
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye
perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
they that put their trust in him.
A cursory reading of Psalm 2 leaves no doubt as to who the Son is. It shows us
the penalty as well of not soliciting his favour. In Matthew 7:44-46 we see the
comparison of someone who loved Christ with someone who cared not for others.
So how do we "Kiss the Son" when he is not present before us?
Matthew 25:40
And the King shall answer and say unto
them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
This principle should apply to all parts of our lives, the manner in which we
treat our brethren does reflect our treatment of Christ. So why this
demonstration of love among brethren?
1 John 3:14
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
John 13:35
By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Did the apostles ever instruct greeting with a kiss?
1.Romans 16:16
Salute one another with an holy kiss. The
churches of Christ salute you.
2.1 Corinthians 16:20
All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one
another with an holy kiss.
3. 2 Corinthians 13:12
Greet one another with an holy kiss.
4. 1 Thessalonians 5:26
Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
5. 1 Peter 5:14
Greet ye one another with a kiss of
charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Was it practiced by the apostles?
Acts 20:37
And they all wept sore, and fell on
Paul's neck, and kissed him,
So what about the early Christians? Did they continue the practice? Here are
some different excerpts showing its continued use.
"When we have ceased from prayer, we salute one another with a
kiss."-Justin
Martyr (abt 100-165AD)
"Therefore the kiss should be given with the utmost care, since if there
be mixed with it the least defilement of thought, it excludes us from eternal life."-
Athenagoras (2d century AD)
"What prayer is complete from which the holy kiss is divorced? What kind
of sacrifice is that from which men depart without peace?- Tertullian abt 200
AD
In the Martyrdoms, also written by Tertullian;
"And when the crowd called for them into the midst, that as the sword penetrated
into their body they might make their eyes partners in the murder, they rose up
of their own accord, and transferred themselves whither the people wished; but they
first kissed one another, that they might consummate their martyrdom with the
kiss of peace."
Tertullian, advising a Christian woman to not marry an unbeliever wrote:
"For who would suffer his wife, for the sake of visiting the brethren...to
creep into prison to kiss a martyr's bonds? nay, truly, to meet any one of the brethren
to exchange the kiss?"
"Abundantly blessed are they who, from your number, passing through these footprints
of glory, have already departed from the world; and, having finished their
journey of virtue and faith, have attained to the embrace and the kiss of the
Lord, to the joy of the Lord himself."- Cyprian's epistle XV abt 240 AD
"Cyprian to Sergius and Rogatianus, and the rest of the confessors in the
Lord, everlasting health. I salute you, dearest and most blessed brethren,
myself also desiring to enjoy the sight of you, if the state in which I am
placed would permit me to come to you...What more pleasant and sublime than now
to kiss your lips, which with a glorious voice have confessed the Lord..."
Cyprian, epistle
LXXX, abt 250 AD
So you see the early Christians considered the Holy Kiss as a sacred trust, it was
shared between all male and female, and was on the lips. They even viewed it as
mandatory, "Kiss the Son lest ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled
but a little."
Now when exactly did culture begin to attack this holy
mandate? I am not sure, I would suspect it started quite early, Satan never
wasting time on destroying what he can.
That the kiss was still common in the 16th century can be easily seen by a
perusal of Martyr's Mirror, an Anabaptist work which detailed many
persecutions. It was written about 1660 and so I would venture to say that even
then the greeting was not much of an irregularity. Just one excerpt should
suffice to demonstrate. In the account of the imprisonment and eventual death
of one Matthias Servaues he wrote a letter to his fellow congregants, he closes
with, "I greet all the believers with a holy kiss. Greet one another with
a kiss of love. And do not forget us, nor any of the prisoners; but persevere
in strong prayer for us to God, for this is highly necessary."
I found this news article written, that shows among other things how the kiss
had already changed in the 17th century.
The New World, Volume 6, June 17. 1843
John Bunyan —Pilgrim's Progress, a book which the child and I his grandmother
read with equal delight, and which, more almost than any other work, may be
said to be " Meet for all hours and every mood of man," was written
in prison, where Bunyan preached to his fellow prisoners, supported his family
by making tagged laces, and filled up his leisure by writing. The work by which
he immortalized himself 'grew from a sudden thought which occurred while he was
writing in a different strain. Its progress he relates oddly enough in his
rhyming apology, but more curiously in some verses prefixed to the "Holy
War."
"It came from mine own heart, so to my head,
And thence into my fingers trickeled ;
So to my pen, from whence immediately
On paper I did dribble it daintily."
But we do not intend writing an essay on the character or works of Bunyan; our
purpose now is merely to call attention to a singularly characteristic and
amusing passage from his defense against some charges of gallantry and
incontinence. It will doubtless be quite new to most of our readers.
"My foes," he says, " have missed their mark in this their
shooting at me. I am not the man: I wish that they themselves be guiltless. If
all the fornicators and adulterers in England were hanged up by the neck till
they be dead, John Bunyan, the object of their envy, would be still alive and
well. I know not whether there be such a thing as a woman breathing under the
face of heaven, but by their apparel, their children, or by common fame, except
my wife. And in this I admire the wisdom of God, that he made me shy of women
from my first conversion until now. Those know, and can also bear in witness
with whom I have been most intimately concerned, that it is a rare thing to see
me carry it pleasantly toward a woman, and the common salutation of women I
abhor. It is odious to me in whomsoever I see it. Their company alone I cannot
away with. I seldom so much as touch a woman's hand; for I think these things
not so becoming me. When I have seen good men salute those women that they have
visited or that have visited them, I have at times made my objection against
it; and when they have answered that it was but a piece of civility, I have
told them it was not a comely sight. Some indeed have urged the holy kiss; but
then I have asked why they made baulks; why they did salute the most handsome,
and let the ill-favored go? Kisses, how laudable soever such things may have
been in the eyes of others, they have been unseemly in my sight."
So here we have it, a self-proclaimed preacher whose work has been idolized by
millions since, dispenses with the greeting because he THOUGHT IT WAS GROSS!
Culture suppressed the Word of God! But not for all.
