THERE is much concern expressed at the activity and success of Mormon missionaries in various parts of the country, and in some places they are driven out by violence. Now we do not believe in Mormonism. It has vital defects. We wish it did not exist. But those who preach Mormonism have as much right, so far as man is concerned, as those who oppose. If people wish to hear, they have that right, and should not be interfered with. The best and only Christian way to oppose Mormonism and every other wrong ism is to preach the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ.
THE CHURCH VERSUS THE SCRIPTURES.
The Pulpit of the Cross, a High Church Episcopal paper, published at Omaha, Nebraska, has a series of articles on "The Errors of the Baptists Concerning Baptism." In article number 3 it makes the following candid statement:—
"It is necessary here, as in the case of the observance of Sunday instead of Saturday as the day of rest, to look to 'the church, the pillar and ground of the truth,' for full authority and knowledge as to what is proper and lawful. The Baptists can not justify their position in the observance of Sunday rather than Saturday, except by an appeal to church history, consequently there are a considerable number of Seventh-day or Sabbath-observing Baptists whose arguments can not be met successfully by the regular Baptists from their premise of the Bible as the only authority. . . . . We therefore appeal to this same authority, the church, for ascertaining the mode of baptism, and she has ruled that immersion, pouring, or sprinkling of water upon the person in the name of the Trinity, is truly Christian baptism."
And if this be so, why not admit all that Rome claims, and ignore the Scriptures altogether? Is it the Word of God or tradition? Is it God or man? See Matt. 15: 1-7.
Why Do They Do It?
By Editor
The Christian Work opens an article in a recent number with the following paragraph:—
"The fourth commandment requires us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Centuries ago, when God delivered this command by Moses to his people, it was considered divine authority. Is this God-given command any less obligatory to-day? We profess to be a Christian nation, and yet we are reckless and inconsistent enough to usurp God's authority. It is a painful fact that the tendency of the times is to violate this same command and to desecrate and dishonor the holy day."
And then it enters into a defense and exhortation relative to Sunday observance. Now the Christian Work knows that Sunday is not the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. It knows that there is no basis for Sunday-keeping in the Decalogue. It said in January, 1884, "that we must go to later than apostolic times for the establishment of Sunday observance." Jan. 8, 1885, it stated the same thing again; and it has repeated the same truth still later. Why will men deceive others into believing that Sunday is the Sabbath of the Bible?
The Sabbath and the First Day
By Editor
THE Way of Faith, Columbia, S. C., comes to us with a marked article on the "First Day in Prophecy," in which the writer holds that both the Seventh and the First days should be kept. He has good ground for the Seventh day, the command of God and the example of Jesus, our Lord, but for the First day, he has only inference, inferences from passages in which the first day of the week is not even mentioned. If he and others knew what God designed the Sabbath to mean to us, not only on that day, but all through the week, they would never seek to divide its honors, given it of God, with another day, of the holiness of which God has spoken nothing. The only Lord's day is the day the Lord calls his, namely, the Sabbath of creation.