The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1910-02-02

70 Whom This People Shall Say, A Confed-
erscy; Neither Fear Ye Their Fear. Nor Be !
Afraid Isaiah vii. ~.
ooOs-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s.s-s-
second appearing Is at hand. Ano
many more are abandoning the thought
that when he appears Adventists alone
will be saved and all the remainder OF
mankind will participate In the de.
struction and burning which shall then
engulf the earth. II should not be
difficult for them to realize that there
is no great necessity for controversy
along the lines OF the time of Christ's
coming. since they acknowledge them
selves completely in the dark on that
subject. Neither can we suppose that
after thoughtful consideration they
should feel justified In assuming that
they alone are the elect" Let us hope
that with broadening sentiment they
are more and more realizing that
there are saints and sinners In their
own number. as well as In all denomi-
nations and as well as In the world;
and that 1.-THE Lord knoweth them that
are his and will care for them, regard
less OF UNCONVENTIONAL lines. But for
that portion Of Adventists which con-
siders the keeping Of the Seventh Day
OF the week the aIl-important part Of
Christianity we see no ground for Fed
Grafton. unless, indeed, they may choose
to get about the difficulty by counting
the calendar the other way around the
world Thus they might bring their
Seventh Day into harmony with what
others term the First Day. Or. by
counting the calendar In the opposite
direction they may still keep their Sew
enth Day and realize that others are
keeping the same day. though calling
II the First Day
Disciple Doctrines to Be voided.
Undoubtedly Alexander Campbell
was gooo man with great head.
And undoubtedly many of similar
class following his lead are today
known as Disciples or Christians.
Undoubtedly these are following close
~ TO apostolic customs in the matter
Of Church organization, which in
many respects is beautiful in its sim
plielty DoctrinaIly they claim most
faithfully 10 stand by the Word Of
God alone And one of their familiar
declarations Is. When the Word Of
God speaketh We speak: when the
Word OF God Is silent We are silent"
But this beautiful simplicity Of theory
our Disciple friends have found diff
cult to work out in practice. Hence
we find them as strongly intrenched
behind unwritten ereeds as are others
behind elaborated creeds. These are
inculeated through the writings OF
their standard Notwithstanding
the editors of their leading journals.
Disciples" hold most tenaciously as
the Bible teaching that baptism in
,oater is indispensable 10 The remission
Of sins. This doctrine is supported by
several Bible texts which declare,
Arise and be baptized and wash
away thy sins" Baptism unto repent
ance and remission of sins" etc.
Before pointing out their misappll-
cations Of these texts let US note the
facts that according TO their theory
all others of mankind. Christians. Jews
and heather. who have not been i'm
mersed have not had their sins washed
away. Consequently such are yet in
their sins Consequently such are lost
And lost according to the general un-
Outstanding OF Disciples and other
Christians signifies shut out OF heaven
shut out of Paradise-shut into bell
and its eternal torment.
DO our Disciple friends act as
though they believed this teachingl
Do they spend all Of their time and
energy and money In seeking to bring
fellow Christians into water baptism
for the remission of sins aud escape
from eternal torture? Assuredly they
do not. Hence we are justified In
supposing that like our Baptist friends
they have not taken seriously aud log
ically their own doctrines. Rather
they have assented to them thought
lessly. II would appear to us, there
FORE. that doctrinally our Disciple
friends might easily be prevailed upon
to abandon their peculiar tenet to the
extent that II would not hinder them
from losing their Identity as advo-
Gates OF baptism for the remission
OF sins" and merging themselves or
federatinc with others
To assist them out OF their difficulty
we remind them that all the Scripture
they cite In support OF immersion fol
the remission Of sins belonged to the
Jews. and none OF 1t to Gentiles. The
Jews were exhorted by John the Bap
fist and others to renounce sin, t
return 10 harmony with Moses Law
and TO show this change OF character
by water immersion But those Ephe
slams who believed in Christ ani
whom Apollos baptized for the remis
sion Of sins did not receive the holy
Spirit, st. Paul explained to then
that their baptism was an imprope
one-that they as Gentiles required
an immersion into Christ Acts xix
II; Romans vi, -.
Baptist Union Not Federation.
As Il week ago we suggested t
AiSSDS tctRuS, OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Hnt
Methodists a union OF heart and hea,
as better than federation, so now W
suggest to the denominations who's
doctrines We are considering today
What we shall suggest respecting bar
tlsm will apply to all Christians.
All Christians agree that Jesus an,
his apostles taught baptism and tina
there are but zone Lord. one faith an,
one baptism" (Ephesians Nv. 81. We can
not here elaborate. but merely sugges
that nowhere In the Scriptures Is In
FAINT baptism commanded or urged. Tn
expression. Relieve aud be baptized,
implies a mental development capabl
Of belief beyond that which infant
possess. The original pretext for III
Producing infant baptism was set fort
by ST. Augustine. who urged that a
all mankind were going to eternal tol
ture except the Church. 1t was neces
sary to get infants into the Church
and baptism was set forth rs tn