Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-06-12
rEvuLIAR IDEAS OF REL,GloSlsis.

jsts who claim 10 draw their c0nccp' |
tons OF religion from tho Bible have
multiplied the various sects Of Chris.
tianity until these IRE now the eInbod.
iment Of dissenpiou aui disu ni,n, ln-
stead OF the compact Organization
formed by the LORD as the true Chris
tiau Church. Men, being "drlven
about by every wind Of doctrine."
yiye conclusive evidence In their
denomi national church aseocla-
lions of tho universal apot-
tasy of which the early Apossles
smoke, The key to all this division,
alleged to lie based on the Bible, lie
that men have preferred to Interpret
the Scriptures, or give particular
promlnencs to one feature ami Ignore
another, instead OF accepting the plain
statement OF the Bible as the iule oi
practice.
An Illustration OF this lie given In the
dissentient views relative to the orui.
nance of baptism by water. There Is
no question as to the meaning OF the
Greek word translated baptism In tho
New Testament being immsrsiop, or
that the Savior ami His Apostles re.
CURED candidates for baptism
to be "born OF the water."
to be "buried with Christ by
baptism," to bs "planteu" Ia the
watery element In likeness OF His REF
direction. The New Tes,am ent
record 10 very plain. Yet there are
very many protesting Cnrlstisns who
believe baptism by immersion to be
non.essential to membe,s OF Chrisps
Church, forgetting that It's abolition ia
q work OF man and not OF any wal
rant in divine revelation. These peo-
pie are encouraged In this view by
eloquent and popular preachers who
ate either wiliuliy ignorant OF the
historical facts or who wilfully per-
vert these. Fur instance, the R.v.
v. Marshall Law, q popular preacher
OF Oakland, Cal, in mis- sermon last
Sunday on the proceeding In Jerusa.
lem on the day VI PsntecosI, refers to
there being 5000 members added to
the Church III that day, aud say:
Iwant you to notice that this great
number makes IL impossible that all
the SO should have been Immersed. For
had the whole Twelve begun a. 10 o'clock
and baptized steadily each convert
every Two minutes, 1t would nave take
until o'clock in the evening to do the
baptizing alone. To suppose this is alb
surd, Tor 1t was not in the power Of
human endurance TO DO II, and further
more there was no water deep enough
anywhere about Jerusalem. They were
undoubtedly baptized by the mos
hastily devised form Of sprinkling, fol
no sci preparations had been made fol
such u Wholesale baptism.
Mr.. Laws mlssta,emeut OF hislor,
Ia so paipabie that IL lsa wonuer hi
would venture TO make II, oven II
defense OF his man.made dogma o
sprnkling Tor baptism. He says ther,
was no water deep enough anywhere
about jerusalem. In this the Apostle
John ana others contradict him
There were many pools in jerusalem
the Apostle John names ont-Johi
2-A-whete "great multitude" O
people waited TO go into tho waite
when the angel troubled 1t. This wa
the pool OF Bstheada, which the ApOs
lie says was by the sheep mar
kei; it Is situated within tn
gates OF Jerusalem. near the 81
Stephens gate anu the temple q
Omar, and is ago eel In length by 10
in breadth. Tue existence Of this ON
pool. to cay nothing OF othars, dispose
OF Mi. Laws statement on that point
There is another feature in the quo
tation, regarding the ability Of tn
Twelve 10 do the baptizing In tbs
time, and to endure the effort. o
this point, the assertion OF Mr.. La
shows that he does not underslap
what he Is talking OF. The LatIeI
day Saints practice baptiem by INNER
siop, ami 1t is no uncommon o,
currence tor them to bapaze seve
to eight hundred people
half the time the gentleman gives, an
for two persoDs TO do the work. :
that there would have been no din
Guilty for the Twelve baptizing al Oh,
to complete the ceremony Tor this who
5000 converts and then have to spa
more than half the tisne allowed /
Mr.. Law; instead Of allowing 30 ba
lisms to the hour by one person. Ectu
Practice seggests 100 or over witho
exhaustive effort. The disparity b
tween thee estimates is such as Q
ours between that made by one wi
does not ami one who does knC
how to baptise.
Again, there is no stsltm ent In t
record which says that only I
Twelve Old the bapuzing, or,
Iced, shat auy OF these perform
he ordinance. 1t might ha