Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1886-01-14
GOSPEL LESSONS NO. 3 EXPOSED.

L uo nope tne feauerS Vi the
LEDGER will preserve Mr.. Duncan's
No. 3. 1t is rare document. 1t is
a regularly formulated Campbellite
Greed of five Articles. 1t is q very
human creed too, as we shall show.
For cool assumption and unmitiga-
ted assurance Mr.. Duncans creed is
hard to surpass. He launches out
by informing us poor people that
"great numbers" prove nothing in
religious matters. We all knew that
before. We have all heard of the
millions of Hindoos in Asia, and the
multiplied millions of the followers
of Confucius. And in our own coun-
try we know something of the mar
velous spread of Mormonism. OF
CO urse numbers prove nothing.
Then he comes TO the first Article
of his creed. At the very instant he
was writing that his ''church dis
cards all creeds and confessions of
Faith" he was writing the opening
sentence of the creed of his church
Is not that refreshingIy cool? And
then he proceeds to inform US that
his church has no creed but the
Bible-they ''take the Bible alone"
This statement is pure fiction. Mr..
Duncan and his church do no such
thing. They take an erroneous and
perverted Interpretation of the Bible,
but not the Bible at all. And most
of their Interpretations of Scripture
were fabricated and formulated for
them by superstltious and besotted
Catholics of antiquity. There is no
''baptism for the remission of SINS
in the Bible, as We have shown in our
No. 2. There is no dipping over
head and ears" in the Bible, as we
| proved last Spring. And we will see
directly that there is ''no communion
every Sabbath in the Bible. But all
these are important and prominent
features in Mr.. Duncan's system.
"rhe Bible alone is the religion Of
Protestants" was sounded through
out the world ages before A. Camp.
bell was born. Who has done mos
to give to the world the Word of Goo
without note or command? Certainly
not Mr.. DIS church. Even the con
fession of Faith plainly says thai
nothing is to be received as a ''rule
of faith and practice except the
word of God. But doubtless Mr.
| D. is in blissful ignorance of this.
His second article is that he ant
his church are ready and willing t.
meet all men, everywhere, on tn
Bible. Now 1 ain ready any day t.
meet Mr.. d. or any of his brethren
on the Bible-mark Neon th
Bihle-not on their Interpretation o
that Book--gross and popish as it is
Mr.. DIS second point is a piece o
contemplate pettifoggery. Th
third article in Mr.. DIS creed is tina
members must confess Christ. We
. who don't do that? All the othe
sects require applicants for membe
ship to confess Christ just as ce
tainly as Mr.. Dupcsn's sect, and as
rule much larger proportion c
those who make the confession liz
up to what they profess. Mr.. Du'
cans confession of one propos
| ton" is based upon the spurious 37'
verse of Acts, Sth chapter.
l The fourth point in Mr.. DIS cree
is immersion the only baptism
But unfortunately for this article
his creed there is no immersion
a religious ordinance in the Word
!, God. If it were true that sail Il
learned world" by one consent taug
this, then so much the worse for Il
learned world. But it is not tru
Mr.. d. may know-and ought
r know, that all those learned M
- who have given "dip or immerse"
< meaning of Baptidzo have al
given other Specifications to the sal
word. And the most learned ha
said that Baptidzo in the New Test
}. ment never signifies immerse or 81
} merge. (See Schleusner's Lexicon
And further Mr.. DIS church docs 1
E. practice immersion. For immel
Idoes not require the head to be I
.r. under. And Paul says in Heb. 8:
that there were "dlvers baptisms"
the Tabernacle service. But th'
were no immersions nor submersio
and no place to submeEse any Of
in or about the Tabernacle.
Mr.. d. and his friends are the J
people in the world that ought to
about meeting others on the Bill
The Bible foundation they have
n, not big enough for one of Mr.
feet to stand on, much less the
of others.
His fifth article is s'weekly c
all munion." This, like the others,