Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-01-18

whom this people shall say, A COnfederacy;
! neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid
1saiahn, 6:12.
| Numerically Baptists Adventists and Disciples
represent more than one-third of the Protest
ants of the United States. What IA y mu
yield for church federation is. therefore, an
important question. All three Of these systems
are built upon the Congregational PLATFORM
which recognizes scriptural the independence
Of each congregation to its own creed In all
matters of faith and church order. These bodies
of Christians, therefore. could not join The
federation denominations. The only method
by which they could give adherence would be
by abandoning their principles of independence
for which they have long commended, or else
by remaining quiescent while their ministers
through councils and conferences essay to act
for them. And here ii should be noted that
the membership of these large Christian bodies
have more and more during the past 80 years
SHOWN their willingness to have their minlste-S
regulate their. affairs, even though contrary TO
their avowed principles of church government
| But it is from the stancpoint of doctrines
rather than the church government that we
shall examine our subject. As we progress
We shall find that some Of the doctrines once
considered aA-tmpoTtant ean In the light OF our
day be laid aside as epsolese-as hindrances In
everyl sense or ~the word. Caution. however.
would suggest that for everything discarded rs
unscriptrral the truthful substitute should be
| fornd-Otherwise our progress -Uuld be toward
the destruction, not only Of the bad Of our
creeds Of the past but also of their good fea-
lures. s...E .-..G>
! D0cTRINAI. SURRENDER OF BAPTIsTs
Baptists will find little to dispute with their
co-religionists of the federation along general
doctrnal lines; their chief difficulty will be
on the matter of what constitutes Christian
baptism-the necessity of water immersion to
admission to church membership. Fer years
this doctrine has been even more tenactousuly
held than is generally realized. Our Baptist
, brethren hold to justification by faith
first or preliminary step which the sinner must
/ take But they equally hold that this is not
the final step-that the step of a sacrifice, the
step of regeneration. must follow, in order to
! salvation. And a baptism in water they recoS
nize an indispensable outward indication Of
, this regeneration Hence II is standard Baptist
| doctrine. both north and south in all Baptist
churches with rare exceptions, that no unm
mersed person should be esteemed member Of
Christ's church
In word faith and reformation are steps
of Justification but water immersion is the
| door into Christ Only those who pass through
/ this door are members of the church Of Christ
from this viewpoint; hence, consistently, none
others invited to partake Of the eucharist
| the Lords supper. Tho argument is that this
supper, symbOlizing death with Christ, was Of
I fered oily to the consecrated and accepted mem
bers of Chrisrs church. Hence to invite Others
than those immersed in water would be a viola
! ton of the letter and the spirit of the Divine
Word and countensncing of false doctrine
The argument is that all OF "the elect" will
be guided of the Lord so that their hearts and
heads will become amenable to these teachings.
Obedience thereto win be shown by submission
to water immersiOn-the door into the church
| Of Chist
Like the rest of us our Baptist friends have
|
religious and doctrinal, so much so that many
Of them have never realized the full meaning Of
| their doctrine. The meaning was grasped In
(, the long ago. but has generally been lost sight
of within the last so years. 1t is this: Since
water immersion is the evidence of obedience
to divine instruction. and since all OF the elect
| arenot onl instructed of God, but obedlent Ia
| him. therefore those not baptized in water
are not of Gods, elect-are not members In his
doctrine IMPLIES IN thar an not TO
water are outside of the church-outside of the
number of ''the elect'-outside of Gods favor
outside of the salvation provided In Christ
and therefore inside the damnation and eter-
| nal torment which Baptist doctrines imply have
been foreOrdained for the eternal torture of all
| the non-elect.
! Do our Bautist friends who meet Immersed
christians Of other denominations in the
walks of life from day to day really believe
! that the latter are on their way to an eternity
of torture? Most assuredly they do not! But
| this is merely because they are Illogical, llt'
the rest of They are as Illogical as their
brethren of other denominations Ihey nave
eutgrown at least this feature Of the teachings
Iof the dark ages" handed down to them by
twell- meaning but less enlightened forefathers.
| One glance at the matter will suffice to show
our Baptist brethren that the very strongest
| features of their teaching needs some revision
! However fundamental may be the doctrine OF
baptism some of their conclusions respecting II
Twill be greatly advantaged by liberal 'prun-
ing. But caution should be used... The 81
bic should be consulted. We offer the sugges-
ton that too hasty rejection OF water INNER
sion would be a mistake-that the proper course
for Baptist friends is 10 Spuuy lne
| lures afresh on this subject. What wonderful
| advantages are now at the command OF. all 81
BILE students. They have marginal references
by which one passage throws light upon an'$h-
err They also have concordances., glossaries
| indexes and all manner OF help Tor blhi'
study Our forefathers before the reformation
were generally iliterate. And even had they
| possessed education. the -writtedFibles wore
expensive. and obtaipahle only in the Latin
few Years that bibles have become cheap and
plentiful and the masses been able to read
them .9' sI5g sas''
Icbrist Is common to. all denominations And
the Adventist belief that at-that time the earth
will be burned up is also feature oTo al aa I'm,
doned the th6ught that the savionr's second ap
pearing IS at hand. And many more are. aban
donihg the thought that when he appears IA
ventistss alone WIFI be saved and all The remain
der of mankind, Will. participate in the destruc
ton and burning which SHAH then. fnsnAf tn
! realize that there is no great necessity To-
controversy along the tine of the time OIL
chrs coming since en- Gsr tbs subeG
Neither can. we suppose that after thoughtful
consideration they should feel Justified in as
Stunning that they alone are 1.-THE elect" Le
us hope that with broadening sentiments they
are more and more. Fsalizing that there az.
saints and sinners. In Htheir' own number. a.
the world: and that the Lord kno~eth then
that are His t.and Wilt care for them, re
CARELESS of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 4. -
But for that portion; Of Adventists which
consider the keeping of tbe1 seventh day of thu
week the. aIi-iIpportant, part of christianity
we see no ground for federation, unless, in
deed theyg may, choose to get about the diff
Guilty by counting the calefi,isr the other waJ
around the world. Thus they might bring thei
seventh day into harmony with what others tern
the first day. Or, by counting the calendar tn
opposite direction, they mag still keep thei
seventh day. and realize That others are keep
ing the same day, though calliff&'jt the frs
day. a n: -. sz.a1, = - ...
! UndonbtedIy Alexander Campbell was a goOC
J man with a great head Aud. undoubtedly man!
of a similar class following bisSlead are today
| known as, disciples Of Christians. Undoubtedl,
these are following closely TO apostolic Gus
toms in the matter Of church organization
which in many respects. is beautiful in IL
simplicity Doctrinally they claim most faith
! of their familiar declarations is when IN
Word of God sifFaketh. We speak; when m
Word of God is silent we are SILENT But I'M
/ beautiful simplicity of theory our dlscHst
friends have found difficult 20 work out II
practice Hence find them as strongly In
trenched behind unwrittcn creeds as are other
behind elaborate creedS. These are inculcate'
i through the writings Of their standard author
| jties-.including the editors Of their leading
journals Disciples hold most tenaclously a
the Bible teaching that baptism in water is IN
diSpansabIe to the remission Of sins. mis- too
trine Is supported by several Bible texts which
, declare Arise and be bGptised and wash AVA
thy sins" Baptism unto repentance and re
mission of sins" etc.
Before pointing cut their Interpretations o
Z ., ,x~fo LOT