The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-04-11

discourses. He took for his text, II
am not ashamed of the Gospel Of
Christ" (Romans i, 16). He said
Let us approach our subject reyer-
entlyi With reverence. because many
of our creeds are white with CEN
turtles. They were the creeds Of our
fathers and mothers. They must not
be handled ruthlessly, unkindly. But
we must approach the subject with
courage because it is Christian duty.
For long centuries Gods people have
been divided into sects aud parties.
separated 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 acknowledge the error, though
it be our own. The oneness of the
Church requires that we should have
this courage! The interests of the
world demand 1t! We have come here
realizing that the time for covering
errors, of which we are ashamed. is
past; that the time for reverencing
God and His Word has come. Who
ever thus approaches the subject can
not fail of a blessing from God, in
harmony with the Masters prayer.
"Sanctify them through Thy Truth;
Thy Word is Truth" John xvii, 10.
Are We Not All Christiansf
Our topic must be, What is the Cos
pei of which st. Paul was not asham-
ed-"the faith once delivered unto the
saints''-"one Lord, one Faith, one
Baptism" Jude 8; Ephesians iv, 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 Bible
prayers to saints, homage to pictures
and images, the sacrifice Of the mass.
holy candles, holy water, Purgatory.
the infallibility of the Pope and the
general theory that the clergy alone
are the Church and brethren of Christ,
and the laity are merely the children
of the Church. He acknowledged that
so great concession could scarcely be
expected at once; that the study of the
Bible must prepare Catholics to accept
it as the only standard Of the faith
once delivered to the saints"
The Protestant Episcopal creed next
had attention Little that was objec-
tionable was found. 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 con-
trary, 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. These are
the twelve foundation stones of the
New Jerusalem, and the foundations
Of the holy temple mentioned by st.
Peter-the twelve authorized by the
Master to bind or to loose from doc
trines and practices (Matt. xviii. 49,.
Presentation
ton.
The Westminster Confession, the
foundation of the majority of Pro-
testant creeds, distinctly emphasizes
the teachings of Brother John Calvin.
We can all agree that the words elect
and election, predestinGted and fore
ordained are Scriptural terms and
that a truth must underlie and per-
wade them But 1t will give none Of
us any pain to repudiate entirely the
peculiar definitions attached to these
words by Brother Calvin. Surely we
are all prepared to deny that God
of Justice. Wisdom, Love and Power
foreordained and predestinated from
before the foundation Of the world
that everybody but the 'elect" should
go to eternal torment! If we cannot
all agree as to what these terms mean.
we can unite in denying the atrocious
doctrines of the past which have 50
greatly dishonored our Creator and
ourselves and which have driven so
many honest minds away from God
and from His Book.
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 sprink-
ling. it represents the underlying
thought expressed in the symbol. The
unreasonable and unscriptural 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 Cor
nelius, at least, was accepted Of the
Lord and begotten of the Spirit before
his baptism In water (Acts K, 40.
The Pastor could not think that the
Baptist and Disciple brethren would
have much difficulty in rejecting
water immersion as a test Of Chris
tian fellowship, If once they saw the
matter in its true light, thus: The
Disciples, in holding that immersion
in water is for the remission of sins.
are claiming, in fact, that all not thus
immersed are lost-doomed to eternal
torment, according to their theory.
Baptists should see the absurdity of
claiming that only the water immersed
are members Of the Church of Christ,
for thus. according to their theory,
they doom to eternal torture, as I'M
saved. all of their Christian brethren
who have not been immersed. Surely
Baptists and Disciples, therefore, may
be expected to promptly and heartily
repudiate these test features Of their
theories.
The Methodist Creed was next ex-
amined. 1t was commended for the
prominence it gives to the Love of
God and His forbearance with the mis-
representations of those who honestly
seek to be His children. The speaker
asked the Methodist brethren to fore
go the worshiping of their Church and
to give the more homage to the Lord.
He admitted the masterfulness of their
organization. but reminded them that
their Episcopacy Is not modelled after
anything shown In the New Testament.
1t does not even pretend to be an au-
thority along the lines Of Apostolic
Succession. They must admit that the
establishment Of its Bishopric was, at
least, semi fraudulent-a supposed
emergency. born of the error that an
Episcopal ordination was necessary to
an authority to preach.
He'll and Pursatory Must Go.
Unitedly we must all acknowledge
that we grossly misunderstood the
teaching Of our Bible when we believ-
ed and taught that our Almighty Gre
ator prepared a great hell. manned
with fire-proof demons, with the fore
knowledge that all of our race would
go thither except as a certain few
would be sneciallY rescued BY the