Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-07-09
"TEACH ALL NATIONS. !"

n bbIuOu pAOdSAON " 1--we 49, W
Long at the Congregational Church
on Union street, Memphis, Tennessee,
Sunday night, June rs, 1881:
Matt. xviii, 49, "Go We, therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost"
This injunction Of eur blessed Lord
is the same in sense and spirit with
that which is recorded in Mark in this
language: "Go ye into all the world
and preach the Gospel to every crea
ture. He that believeth and is bSp-
tized shall be saved, and he that be
lieveth not shall be damned. " Now
there are only two possible eonstruc.
tions to be put upon this command Of
Jesus. The first is that the iDjunc-
ton to preach the Gospel TO every
creature is based upon full and ade-
duate provision for the salvation OF
every creature; that it is the desire Of
God that every human being shall be
saved; that he, therefore, upon the
broad basis Of universal atonement,
offers the Gospel to every human be.
ing in good faith; and that it is his
immutable intention that every hu-
man being shall have ii if be will &C
cept it, and He wants him to accept it
In other words, God is honest in ex-
tending the offer of salvation to every
man. The other construction is, that
Jesus Christ laid this command on his
Apostles and sent them forth to offer
everlasting life to all the world; but
back Of this injunction and this offer
there lay in the mind of God secret
and unconditional purpose, by virtue
of which part of the human race
were unchangeably set apart and
marked for everlasting life; and the
rest as unchaugeably set apart to ever
lasting death. This latter class,
therefore, were not considered in the
atonement except as being those who
should enjoy its benefits. 1t was
Gods immutable intention that the
atonement should not apply to them.
Then, if this be true. the atonement
is absolutely inapplicable to a part of
the race-to whom salvation has been
offered, and inapplicable simply be-
cause God saw ft by his immutable
purpose to exclude them from it.
give my preference to the FIRST
construction. Az an honest man-as
a man that claims to have somewhat
Of the spirit OF true manhood and of
common sense within him Il am
bound to give my adhe ion to the
former view, and repudiate the latter
] could not worship dishonest God.
nor preach his gospel. | must have
a God that can look upon as better
than myself, or no God at all. sub
NIT it to your judgment that if the
Deity has sent His servants forth to
extend the offer Of free salvation to
every man, and yet by a chaRgeless
purpose has chained millions and mil
lions OF those same men beyond the
reach Of that salvation, and never
intended that they should or could
receive it, then that Deity is in His
heart dishonest. He is guilty of most
cruel moekery, and so long as | retain
my reason land my heart / could not
worship or respect God like that.
But it is not my intention to discuss
this subject further. | propose to
discuss tonight tho doctrine which
seems TO constitute the very frame
and skeleton of the text, viz: the doc
trine of the trinity; the doctrine thai
10 the one Godhead there are three
distinct and individual persons-the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost
This text either implicitly declare.
the fact of the trinity or else it is su.
premely blasphemous and wicked
Because the ordinance of baptism il
the visible sign and seal of initiation
into the state of Gods complete and
all-suiicieRt grace, extending from
pardon to final glori6cation. But il
is the prerogative of God alone to
pardon sin. 1t lies within the reach
of Omnipotence alone TO make a new
creature and cleanse the deep pollu-
ton of the soul. But this formula
associates the Holy Ghost and the Son
in an equality of authority and power
with the Father in the work of re-
demption. 1t substantially declares
that the Holy Ghost has as much to
do in il and with il as the Son, and
that the Son is as prominent and eff
cient an agent as the Father. 1t,
therefore, announces three distinct
persons as coequal and coeficient in
the work OF salvation; and sirce the
work Of salvation is exclusively the
work Of God it makes each Of these
persons in himself divine. Hence the
formula Of baptism makes the Son