Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-01-25
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL.
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

Ot~-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-.-s-s-s-e
Sunday, Jan. 23.-Numerically Bap-
fists. Adventists and Disciples repre-
sent more than one-third of the Prot
estants Of the United States What
| they must yield for Church Federation
is therefore an important question.
All three of these system, are built
upon the Congregational platform,
which recognizes as Scriptu-al the in
| dependence OF each congregation as TO
it's own creed in all matters of faith
and Church order. These bodies of
Christians. therefore. could not join
the Federation as denominations. The
only method by which they co aid give
| adherence would be either By aban-
| doning their principles of independence
for which they have so long contended.
| or else by remaining quiescent while
| their ministers through Councils and
| Conferences essay TO act for them
| And here it should be noted that the
membership of these large Christian
bodies have more and more during the
| past thirty-fve years shown their will
! ingness to have their ministers regu-
late their affairs, even though contrary
| to their avowed principles of Church
| Government
| But it is from the standpoint of doc
| trines rather than Church government
| that we shall examine our subject As
we progress we shall find that some of
| the doctrines once considered all-im-
portant can in the light of our day be
laid aside as obsolete-as hindrances
in every sense of the word. Caution,
| however, would suggest that for every
thing discarded as unscriptural the
truthful substitute should be found
| otherwise our progress would be to-
ward the destruction, not only of the
bad Of our creeds Of the past, but also
Of their good features.
| Doctrinal Surrender of Baptists.
| Baptists will find little to dispute
with their co-religionists Of the Fed
Grafton along general doctrinal lines;
their chief difficulty will be in the mat
| ter of what constitutes Christian bap-
tism-the necessity of water INNER
sion to admission to Church member
ship. For years this doctrine has been
even more tepaciously held than is
| generally realized. Our Baptist breth-
| ren hold to justification by faith as
first or preliminary step which the sin
ner must take. But they equally hold
that this is not the final step-that the
step of sacrifice. the step of regenera-
ton much follow in order to salvation.
| And baptism in water they recognize
| as an indispensable outward indication
! of this regeneration. Hence it is stand
| ard Baptist doctrine, both North and
South in all Baptist Churches with
| rare exceptions, that no unimnerSed
| Christ's Church.
| In a word, faith and reformation are
| steps of justification, but water INNER
| sion is the door into Christ. Only those
| who pass through this door are mem
bers of the Church of Christ from this
viewpoint; hence, consistently, none
| others are invited to partake of the
Eucharist--the Lords Supper The ar
| gument is that this Supper, symbolic
/ ing death with Christ, was offered only
| to the coDsecrated and accepted men,
| bers of Christ's Church. Hence to in
| vite others than those immersed in
| water would be a violation of the let
ter and the spirit of the Divine Word
and countenancing of false doctrine.
| The argument is that all of 1.-The elect
| will be guided of the Lord, so that
| their hearts and heads will become
amenable to these teachings. Obedi-
| ence thereto will be shown by submfs-
sion to water immersion--the door into
| the Church of Christ.
Like the rest of US. our Baptist
| friends have been in the past rather
| Illogical in all matters religious and
| doctrinal: so much so that many Of
| them have never realized the full
| meaning of their doctrine. The mean
| ing was grasped in the long ago. but
| has generally been lost sight of within
the last fifty years. 1t is this: Since
water immersion is the evidence of
| obedience to Divine instruction and
since all of 1.-THE elect are not only in
| structed of God but obedient to him,
therefore those not baptized in water
| are not of Gods elect-are not men,
bers in his Church. And this in turn,
| according TO Baptist doctrine, implies
| that all not immersed in water are
outside of the Church-outside of the
number of 1.-THE eect"-outside Of
| Gods favor-outside of the salvation
provided in Christ-and therefore in
side the damnation and eternal tor
ment which Baptist doctrines imply
have been foreordained for the eternal
torture of all the non-elect.
Do our Baptist friends who meet
unimmersed Christians of other de-
nominations In the walks of life from
day to day really believe that the lat
ter are on their way TO an eternity
Of torture? Most assuredly they do
not But this is merely because they
are illogical. like the rest of US. They
are as illogical as their brethren OF
other denominations. They have out
grown at least this feature OF the
teachings of the dark ages" handed
down to them by well-meaning but
less enlightened forefathers.
One glance at the matter will suffice
to show our Baptist brethren that the
very strongest features of their teach
ing needs some revision. However
fundamental may be the doctrine of
baptism. some of their conclusions re-