Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-07
BURDETTE breaches
DOCTRINAL SERMON
SAYS BAPTISTS HAVE SIMPLE
C0UNTERSIGN
Declares Adherents Of His Church, AL
though Thinking Independently,
Are Harmonious In Their
Diversity

DIVERSITY
Pastor Robert ]. Burdette preached
at the Temple Baptist church on the
topic THE Countersign," taking for his
text Judges 1876, And it was SO, that
when any of the fugitiVes of Ephraim
said, Let me pass over the men OF
Gilead said unto him, Art thou an
Ephraimite? If he said nay then
said they unto him, Say now Shibbo-
leth;' and he said, 'Sibboleth;' for he
could not frame to pronounce it right;
then they laid hold on him and slew
him at the fords of the Jordan. And
there fell at that time of Ephraim forty
and two thousand
"All because they couldn't pronounce
III at one end of a word as easily as At
the otlrer' said the speaker. Had
they only thought to say 1t backward
they would have been pronounced as
orthodox as a Scotch Presbyterian,
which is impossible
"Ephraim had brought the wrath of
Gilead upon himself by oVerrating his
own Importance. His was very nu-
merous tribe. But he was very young
the youngest of all Israel. And he
wasn't a son at all. He was only
grandson. The younger son of
younger son. He was oversensitive. He
expected too much Difference. And
when he measured his strength against
Gilead of the mountains the thing hap
pened to Ephraim that not infrequently
happens to people who talk too much,
and who boast themselves when they
put on their armor, rather than when
they lay 1t off,
"He was put to a searching test and
terribly punished by his nearest breth-
rem, for Gilead was a branch of the
tribe of Manasseh, Ephraim's own
brother. The army must have its own
countersign. Religion must have its
own test word. 1t is the flaming sword
at the gates of righteousness. 1t is
right, and sane, and reasonable to de-
mand 1t of every one who would enter
the church of God. We Baptists have
very simple one. If you are here at
the ordinance of baptism you hear 1t
demanded of the candidate. We ask
him: DO you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ? If he says Yes he is 'bap-
tized in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, in
obedience to the command of the great
Head of the Chuch, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Require No Articles of Faith
1--WE require a candidate for admis-
sion to the church to subscribe to no
articles of faith to accept the wisdom
of no council, to receive no man-made
creed. Our confession of faith is the
Word of God; the Head of the Church
is Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior
of men. He is the Truth he is the
Life. He is the Light Of the world.
His is the name above every name,
and in none other is there salvation;
for neither is there any other same
under heaven that is given among men,
whereby we must be saved
1--WE permit, in our fellowship, his
glory to be shared, never so little, by
any other man or woman, Buddha, Mo-
manned, Alexander Dowie or any
woman-any other religious teacher.
1--WE place on the Baptist pulpit so
book save only the Word of God. We
accept no revelation save only that
which we find therein-'the revelation
of Jesus Christ which God gave unto
him
"Then, besides this simple confession
of faith, we have a number of Shibbo-
leths. But these are individual. Any
Baptist has the right to speak for HIM
self. No Baptist has the authority to
speak for the Baptist church-not even
for the particular church of which he
is pastor-it is intelligent, and ortho-
dox, jealous and righteous enough to
speak for itself.
1.-THE Baptist prizes very highly soul
liberty; freedom of the mind; the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made
him free. Some Baptists-very learned
and very wise men, indeed-they admit
1t themselves, so there can be no doubt
about it-haVe recently been agitating
for the appointment of Baptist bishops
L hope they will appoint one. l hope
that one of the wise men who believe
in them will be the first appointed:
And 1 hope he will be appointed over
the diocese in which I am officiating. 1
would so enjoy sitting on the side
lines and watching a Baptist try to
bishop. He'd have the most exciting
bishopric since Bishop Hattoo fed his
rats.
bishops rule most naturally, beau
tifully, gracefully and righteously the
churches born to that Organization.
But with Baptists, such form of gov
eminent would be like travelling by air
ship. 1t would be expensive, awkward,
dangerous, and we would get anywhere
except the place we wanted to go. And
each air ship carries but one passen-
ger-the bishop who runs it,
II Independent Thinking
Naturally there is very indepen-
dent thinking In the Baptist church.
We are harmonious with all our diver
sity,< because we love each other, just
as is a family of a dozen children rep
resenting twelve Compartments and
tastes and occupations. In this Temple
CluICA LuSlS ttA0 ppOil HAlh NiO9S NOiiA
munionists-and you can't tell them
apart-not even at the communion
table.
Some of us believe it is wicked to
ride on the trolley cars; others believe
the invention which makes it possible
for people who don't own automobiles
to get to the church they love best are
as great blessings as are the steam
ships that sail Sundays as they carry
the missionaries to the benighted
heather.
Some of us may believe in eVerlast-
ing torment; others of us certainly
shudder at the idea. Some of us believe
that bazaars' are agencies of the evil
one; others come to their pastor to tell
him how sweetly these pleasant assem-
blies of the women have drawn them.
for the first time in their church life,