Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-08-11

For If there are no non-elect infants,
then all infants are elect; and IL elect
when infants, how could their predes-
tination change with advancing years. :
His sympathetic advice to Presbyte-
rian brethren is. that the entire creed
be recast; or. better still, that 1t and
all other creeds be abandoned, and the
Bible as a whole be accepted. Then.
he argued, all Bible students could
come together without prejudice for
mutual assistance and untrammeled
growth in grace along Bible lines.
While the Pastor mentioned Presby-
terians, his thought included all Chris
tians. For surely many others than
Presbyterians have been consigning
ad Its and infants to the number Of at
least 10000 every day, or 100000
every year, to eternal torture, II not
because non-elect. then because un-
regenerate, or unbaptized. Surely all
intelligent people are out Of accord
with such a proposition. Surely all
must agree that some great mistake
has been made during the Dark Ages,
and that under the influence Of that
mistake, as expressed in our creeds,
our God has been slandered. Surely
today every thinking person will con-
cede that a human being planning
such atrocities would be thousand
times more devilish than any one
known in history. And surely our
great God. our Creator, could not be
worse than the worst and most de-
PRAYED Of all His creatures.
On the contrary, God must Of neces-
sity be the very personlhcation Of all
the graces-Justice, Wisdom, Love and
Power Evidently the God who fore
knew and determined to send these
80, 100000 human beings per year to an
eternity of torture would not only not
be God at all, but would be the most
terrible devil that the human mind
could conceived
Bible Students are realizing that
great mistake has occurred, and that
the Bible teaches nothing of the kind
we had supposed More and more. as
the eyes Of their understanding open
to proper interpretations of Gods
Word. they are appreciating the Di-
vine character. and the Bible as never
before.
The Pastor declared that a week
from now he will consider some Of the
Masters dark sayings, and show how
they have been misinterpreted and
misapplled Today he must content
himself with the subject in hand. He
must discuss Gods relationship to the
heather and to infants.
He Still Sees Difficulties.
As we understand 1t, said the Pas
tor, our Presbyterian friends have
changed the statement of the creed,
which formerly read, "Elect infants
dying in infancy are saved"-taking
out the word "elect," and letting it
read, Infants dying in infancy are
saved" But is this true? Do our
Presbyterian friends believe thisl
Come, let us reason together. Are
not the children as well as the more
matured members of Adams. family
born in sin and mlsshapen in inlquity
Are not all of these by nature "chil-
dren of wrath? Did not every mem.
ber of Adams family come under his
sentence and participate in the pen
atty or curse, Of his sin-"Dying, thou
shalt die"l Is not this the reason
that infants die at all2 win not all
concede that had there been no sin
there would have been no death in the
human family2 Docs not st. Paul dis.
tinctly state this, saying, by one
mans dlsobedience sin entered the
world, and death as the result Of sin,
and thus death passed upon all men
because all are slnners"2- - Romans
5;l2; Psalm 6l!5
All Condemned Need Redemption.
Surely all Christian people, Presby.
terlans especially, will agree with me
that the sentence Of death, passed upon
Father Adam and inherited by his
race, must needs be settled, cancelled
before any Of his posterlty, old ol
young, could be released from the pen.
atty. True, we all ngree that the death
OF the Lord Jesus Christ is the redemp
tion-prlce and that He provided It more
than eighteen centuries ago But dc
we not also agree that Jesus death, OF
itself, saves nobody; that His merit be
comes applicable merely to us Of the
Church at such time as we believe IN
II and accept II, approprlating It to our
selvesy
Is not this the proclamation Of the
Gospel Age--Belleve. Believed DO We
not remember the Bible declaration
that we are justified by fdith, not by
being infdpiSe And do we not al
agree that faith cannot be exercised
except by a more or less developed
mlnd2 Hence all should agree thai
the Scriptural proposition is, that al
infants shared In Adams sentence
OF death, and have provision also IL
the redemptye work Of Jesus. New
ertheless, they can be saved only by
coming TO a knowledge Of God and Of
Jesus, and by then exercising faith
and obedience to the extent Of ability
We believe this to be an unbeatable
proposition
II this be so then our Presbyterian
brethren overstate the matter wher
they declare that all infants dying II
infancy are saved They might very
properly say, An infants dying in In
fancy. and everybody else, come under
tho nrovlsIon of DivIne grace IN Christ