Mexico weekly ledger., 1885-12-24
GOSPEL LESSONS.

over the name of M. Y. Duncan. As
I am one of 'the poor people who
seldom hear high-priced sermons"
and as these gospel lessons" are
prepared for such ''poor people" as
myself Of course I read it carefully.
And my first thought was hat this
first ''lesson" of Mr.. Duncan was
certainly not very high-priced. I
consider it very cheap. But all cheap
lessons arc not necessarily good les
sons. 1 am glad that Mr.. Duncan
has had the courage to sign his full
name this time; but I wish to in
form him that we "poor people"
don't propose to swallow all he at
tempts to feed us, even if he does Ito
use his classic phrase) "scratch
where the bug is"
have a few objections to his first
lesson. which, with the consent of the
editor, I will now offer. And as
these lessons advance we hope to be
able to expose their cheapness and
shallowness so that we "poor people"
may be profted by them.
LIST. The first objection to this les
son is that the law of pardon quoted
by Mr.. Duncan MARK l6 ;16) is very
doubtful as to its ~genuineness, if not
certainly a spurious text. This Mr..
Duncan should have known, fer in
the Revised New Testament it is,
with some other verses, separated
from the 10th chapter and a note ap-
pended giving the reason. 1t is gen.
orally admitted by biblical critics that
Mark did not write from verse 9 to
the end of the 10Th chapter. None
but the writer of very ''cheap" lessons
would eve think of basing the law of
pardon on a passage doubtful as to
its g%enuineness. Souls are not cheap
if lessons are.
I'd. 1 object to the way Mr.. Dun
can quotes scripture. He refers to
Acts I'd and quotes Verse 80 as a
part of that verse, What must we
do to be saved?" There is no such
sentence in Acts, I'd chapter. And
there is no sentence with that mean
ing. Mr.. DIS Interpretation is not
only cheap but very transparent.
And what makes this misquotation
objectionable is that Mr.. Duncan has
in this very lesson referred to the
Book of Revelation, in which the
Apostle John says: "Let this Bool
alone! He that adds to it shall have
Its plaques added to him." And yet
in the face of that fearful language
Mr.. D. has added three words tt
Acts 2:37. But these lessons are moi
"high-priced," therefore We oughi
+ not to expect much.
Sd. l object to his statement 0.
what the sincere must do in order te
!, pardon. He says: "Those to whom
the Apostles preached had certain
things to do. LIST, To hear; I'd, te
believe; Sd, to be baptized" Now
it is easy to see that the verbs ':hear'
and .'believe'' are in the active voice
and the sinner may be reasonably
held responsible for failing to obey,
But I here affirm that 'to be hap.
} tized IS in the passive voice, and nc
, positive law, requiring active ODE
dience of any agent, was ever pro
mulgated with the use of the passive
verb. No such law, human or di'
vine, can be found. If I am moi
, mistaken Mr.. Duncan is a lawyer
Let him find the law and in some
future lesson tell us poor people how
a man is to do anything expressed by
, a passive verb. "To be baptized
may require a man to suffer some
thing to be done by another or per
NIT some one else to DO something
. but it does not command any doing
on part of the agent. This is n o
the fatal fallacies of Mr.. D. and al
his kind. But then we should re
! member that these lessons are no
; high-priced. They don't cost mucl
even if they do teach error in gram
mar, law and religion.
g 4th. Again, I must enter my pre-
test against Mr. D. having DIR. Poi
icy to say quietly that ''all the schol
G ars, of all the ages, and universe
history, teach that immersion VS.
the only mode practiced." Why di
3. not Mr.. Duncan say so without lug
re ging in DR.. Policy to admit it? No
r some of US poor people who read tt
a LEDGER can remember last sprir
,e when "Disciple," aided by MI.
himself, utterly failed to find any d
in baptizo and refused to even try
prove that immense ever meant
~ put under water. I trust that mai
"A Of the poor people have kept copi
~ of the LEDGER from April LIST, 1873
and can look back and. see how plai
,; ly this part of Mr.. Duncan's che
i lesson was exploded. Such presul
ing argues that Mr.. D. must think t
people are ignorant Is we'll as poo
We who read the LEDGER may
very poor but our souls are tso pl
ed cious to be deceived and misled
10. such cheap lessons; and our min
have been too well cultured to all,
he to take chaff for golden ora