The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-03-18

tentoncd and lacks the power the
ability, to make his benevolent desires
effective towards any except a small
handful of humanity. Our Disciple
friends should cast aside the thought
contained In their teachings that only
the water-immersed experience for
Giveness of sins and reconciliation to
God and salvation from eternal tor
mcnt. Similarly those Of us who are
Baptists, while holding to the precious
truths which so long have comforted
and strengthened us, should insist now
on casting away as unscriptural and
irrational the thought that has long
perplexed us, namely. that no others
than the waterimmersed could be
members Of the Church of Christ,
heirs of glory, and be saved from dam
nation. Once we get these absurdities
removed, not only from our heads and
hearts, but also from our professions.
we shall be ready and anxious to have
the doctrines Of Christ on these sub
jects. Then we will search the Word
and have Gods blessing in finding its
harmonles. "He that seeketh findeth;
and to him that knocketh 1t shall be
opened" (Matthew vii 81. But so long
as we hold to the fallacies how can
we seek or pray for or find the Truth?
The Value Of Doctrines.
The word doctrine signifies teaching.
The doctrines Of Christ, therefore, are
the teachings Of Christ; the doctrines
Of men, the teachings Of men. What
the Church needs today Is, to receive
into good and honest hearts afresh the
doctrines Of Jesus and the Apostles
| allowing these to displace the doctrines
which Christendom now holds but dis
| esteems, and which were formulated
| in time of less light than the present
| Instead, therefore, of discouraging
each other in respect to the study Of
| the doctrines of Christ, we should, as
| Christians, become more earnest In the
study every day, hoping and expecting
that in the wonderful light of our time
| God would be able to make clear to
| our understanding the harmonious in
| terpretations Of his Word. We should
| study to find the relationship between
| Election and Free Grace. We should
| clearly understand what Is meant by
| baptism and what kind Of baptism is
| necessary for our induction into the
| Body of Christ as members. On every
| line we should be looking for the har-
monies, instead Of rejoicing in the err
rors which have long divided us into
hundreds Of sects and parties.
| However, in some respects sectarian
energy Is better than federated death
Might we not even say that If all the
| creeds were dashed to pieces and each
| Christian stood forth unshackled as re-
spects UNCONVENTIONAL bonds, the re-
suit would be great Improvement so
far as individual thought, study, and
relationship to God would be con.
cerned? In a word, each Christian
should have his own creed, his individ-
ual faith; and none should do more or
less than to assist his mind to full
understanding Of the Word of the Lord
In respect to every subject.
Doctrines of Men.
| All doctrines which cannot show a
foundation and full authority in the
teaching of Jesus and the Apostles and
| Prophets, are doctrines of men. The
teachings from above come to US
through heaven-appointed channels.
The jargon which prevails in Christen-
dom In respect to Christian doctrines
proves that they are Of human origin
The Scriptures alone furnish to us
The Doctrines of Christ.
Briefly stated they declare, ITO us
there is one God, the Father, and one
Lord, Jesus Christ" q Corinthians viii,
81. To us there Is one Holy Spirit; to
us there is lone Church of the Living
God. whose names are written in
| heaven" to us there Is lone Lord and
one faith and one baptism; one God
and Father of all'' (Ephesians ", 40.
However impossible these statements
may have appeared during the dark
ages, they are no longer so. The light Of
Divine Truth Is now shining. God has
not only put into our possession Won
derful Bibles, and wonderful helps for
Bible-study, but has also given us the
ability to read. to study the Word crit
ically. And he is pleased now to as
sure US through the prophet that we
are living I'm the time when "the wise
shall understand" the mystery hid
den from past ages and dispensations.'
which could not be understood previ-
ously without working an interference
with Gods eternal purposes.
| What. then, dear FRIENDS. shall we
do? Shall we float on ingloriously,
daily. hourly coming closer and closer
to the great cataclysm which is swal-
lowing up so many now in infdelity,
called Higher-Criticism? Or shall we
accept Gods Helping Hand, the doc
trines of Christ, and know the Truth
and be made free from the error and
be brought into fellowship with our
Redeemer on the highest plane? Let
us. as the wise virgins" Of our Lords
parable, wake from sleep and trim our
lamps, and, In the light thereof, see
Gods wonderful riches of glory as
they stand revealed on the threshold
Of the New Dispensation-the Millen-
NAL reign Of Christ!