Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-04-08

A Many of the lead
8sasToRFU5SELL9 ing newspapers,
both here and In
America, publish his weekly dis
courses. He took for his text, II am
not ashamed Of the Gospel of Christ"
tRomans !, 49,. He said
Let US approach u subject rever-
entlyi With reverence, because many
of our creeds are white with centuries.
They were the creeds of our fathers
and mothers. They must not be han
died ruthlessly, unkindly. But we
must approach the subject with our
age because 1t is a Christian duty. For
long centuries Gods people have been
divided into sects and parties, separat-
ed by creedal fences. At one time
they gloried in their differences, and
destroyed one another in their zeal for
what they believed to be the Truth.
Now we see more clearly that none
of our creeds are without flaw. Now
we are willing, yea, glad, to take the
Truth wherever we find 1t and to ac-
knowledge the error, though 1t be III
own. The oneness of the Church re-
quires that we should have this cour-
agel The interests of the world de-
mand #! We have come here realiz-
ing that the time for covering errors,
of which we are ashamed, is past; that
The. fine fer reveAenc1ng COD ana fls
Word has come.
Are We Not All Christians2
Our topic must be, What is the Cos
pei Of which st. Paul was not ashamed
-'the faith once delivered unto the
saints'-"one Lord, one Faith, one
Baptism (Ephesians ", 81.
The speaker showed that the Roman
Catholic Church, in order to unite with
others, would need to cut out of her
creed everything not found in the BIZ
ble-prayers to saints, homage to pic
lures and images, tho sacrifice Of the
mass, holy candles, holy water, Pur-
gatory, the infallibility Of the Pope
and the general theory that the clergy
alone are the Church and brethren Of
Christ, and the laity the children of
the Church.
The Protestant Episcopal creed next
had attention. Little that was objection
able was found therein, One point alone
could cause any hesitancy, he was sure
Apostolic Succession. He urged that
no Scripture could be found sustaining
this theory in clear terms. On the
contrary, he gave numerous citations
in proof that the twelve Apostles only
possessed ~plenary inspiration and were
directly under Divine control-St. Paul
taking the place of Judas.
MISUNDERSTANDING
ton.
The Westminster Confession, the
foundation Of the majority of Protes-
tant creeds, distinctly emphasizes the
teachings of Brother Calvin. We can
all agree that the words elect and
election, predestinated and foreordain-
ed, are ScrIptural terms and that a
truth must underlie and pervade them.
But 1t will give none of us any pain
to repudiate entirely the peculiar def
nitions attached to these words by
Brother Calvin. Surely we are all
prepared to deny that q God of JUS
tice, Wisdom, Love and Power fore
ordained and predestinated from be-
fore the foundation of the world that
everybody but the elect" should go
to eternal torment.
Baptists and Disciples, Pastor Rus
sell declared. have something further
to surrender. Surely they may keep
water immersion. Surely they may
claim that. more fully than sprinkling,
1t represents the underlying thought
expressed in the symbol. But the IN
reasonable and unscrlptursi thing
which they must renounce In favor
of union is that water immersion is
a test Of membership in the Church of
Christ. They must admit that Corne-
Illus, at least, was accepted Of the
Lord and begotten Of the Holy Spirit
before his baptism in water acts I.
Al.
Baptists and Disciples should see
the absurdity of claiming that only
the water immersed are members of
the Church of Christ, for thus, accord
ing to their theory. they would be
booming to eternal torture as unsaved
all of their Christian brethren who
had not been immersed. Surely Bap-
lists and Disciples, therefore, may be
expected to promptly and heartily re-
pudiate these test features of their
theories.
The Methodist Greed was next ex.
prominence 1t gives to the Love of
God and His forbearance with the
misrepresentation Of those who hon.
estly seek to be His CHILDREN. The
speaker asked the Methodist brethren