Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-02-09
TN THE CHURCHES.
DR.. C. Z Taylor breaches on the
Subject Of Baptism.
An Increasing Ser m IN Last Even ng
Other he Iii xt0us Obs -rvanCes IN
the City Yesterday.

BAPTISM AND THE REMISSION OF SINS.
A large audience assembled at The First |
Baptist church last evening to hezr d.. |
Tsylors sermon on "Bap ism and the |
Remission of Sins" The ordinance of |
baptism was administered TO several can
didates at the close Of service.
The text was from Acts II:3S
.sThen Peter said unto tn EN-, repent, and be bap
tized everyone of you IN the name OF Jesus On l-t
for the remission OF sins.
Nothing is more perilous than to give
misleading interpretations of scripture,
said the pastor, and wrong instructions 10
those seeking salvation. Terrible Is the
calamity when in spiritual things there
are blind leaders of the blind Those
who seek to guide souls into the way of
life must themselves learn from the teach
ings OF Christ, OF his inspired apostles,
being assisted more or less. in under
standing the scriptures by the expositions
of pious and intelligent christians of the
past and present time, though nothing is
of authority except what Jesus and the
apostles taught. Among the earliest
corruptions of christian faith, was the ten
dency toward what Dean Stanley termed
the dreadful superstition" that no one
could be saved without the "ws shing of
waters of baptism" To this "supers:i IL
ton" more than to any other cause, is
owing to the manifold corruptions which
have cursed the church. for the reason
that it brought into her membership those
destitute of piety and the ''receivings Of
the holy ghost" Thsre is no more per-
sistent tendency of human nature than
that of seeking the divine favor through
ordinances. 1t is the gem OF ali elaborate
and costly religious rituals, heather and
christian. 1t is the principle underlying
the doctrine that sins are RENTED IN
baptism.
/. What are Christ's teachings as to
how the sinner may have eternal llfef
Among His earliest teachings and where
He was expressly instructing one as to
how he might enter the kingdom Of God,
(John lid, he never once refers 10 bap-
tism, nor does he anywhere n al his
teaching speak of baptism as in any way
connected with salvation; with The posi-.
bic exception of Mark XVI. 16; but there
baptism is not made necessary to salvG>
ton; besides so much doubt exists as to
the genuineness of the paragraph MARK
XVI, 8 20) that it cannot be quoted as
authority in favor Of any doctrine.
In the commission. (Nstthews.
XVIII. 19.) he commands his disciples
to first disciple and then bsptize. Bu, he
does teach that those who believe have
eternal life. See ohm III, 49, ', "a; VI,
40, AZ. There is not anywhere in mis-
teachings even remote hint that sins are
RENTED in baptism. but he does say that
his blood is shed FOR their remission.
2. Do the apostles teach that sins are
RENTED in baptism? Those who hold to
the doctrine Of baptismal remission have
attached peculiar meanings TO the terms
repentance" faith" Regeneration, ;"
''the new BIRTH" born again" go M
mission" change of heart" obedience
to the gospel" born of the spirit" and
the work Of the spirit" meanings tn at
are unscriptural and different from those
attached to them by Evangelical chris
tians universally, and which besr the seal
and superscription of an able and theor-
izing sectarian leader and not the seal Of
the Holy Ghost. Using these terms in
their scriptursl meaning and in the mean.
ing attached to them by all Evangelical
christians, do the apostles teach that sins
are RENTED in baptismf Most emphat
cally not Peters words, Acts IL,
So. are quoted to prove it. But,
baptism is here used repre- sentative.
". True scriptural repentance is accom-
panied by saving faith. Verse 40, informs
US that Peter spoke many other words. 3"
which are not here recorded. The Greek
proposition "eGs" here translated 'for
may be properly and correctly rendered
ION account Of" Every passage quoted
as proving baptismsl remission when cor
rectly interpreted fails to support the
doctrine, as Acts XXII,16. Paul 'be'
lieved" several days before his baptism,
Titus HAS. The agent of the wash
ing" of regen Grafton here is said to be the
Holy Ghost. l Peter III:20,21. Baptism
is said to be a figure" of Salvation but
to put away sins. The apostles, howev'
or, do teach that men are justified and
saved By faith. John |, II, ~ 10; XXX 81
Acts x, 43; XIII, 80; XVI, 81; Rom. w.
IS. vi; X, 8, 8. 10.
The scriptures teach that sins are re.
pn;ttod ~ .bo blood Of Chriof Unan up