PROPER SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM.
By Wm. A. Wood.
An Incident Which Points a Moral.
THE Word of God makes religion a personal matter. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;" "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost;" "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 8:36, 37. The curse of Christendom has been the baptism of the unbelieving and unregenerate. A correspondent sends us the following, the names of which we omit; it will perhaps help to show the unreasonableness of an unscriptural mode and administration:— I attended, recently, a camp-meeting. After the sermon the minister in charge said they would now administer the ordinance of baptism, to the children first, and then to the adults. One little girl, bright, pretty, and well dressed, was being led forward by her mother, when she began to protest and hung back, and finally began to cry and say, "I don' wan' to be baptized." Another dear little soul too small to talk reached up and pushed away the hand of the preacher, and, turning to its mother, began to cry. I could not help thinking that this was a good ways from the words and teaching of inspiration. "Repent and be baptized;" and, altho the scripture, "Suffer little children to come unto me," was quoted, I could not see how there was any "coming" in it when they had to be dragged protestingly to it. When these things occurred and the little baby feelings were wrought up, the people would laugh, and seem to think it was highly amusing. How different it seemed to me from the solemn rite where one who, repenting of his sins, follows his Lord and Saviour in being buried in the watery grave to show to the world that he no longer lives to sin but rises to live anew in Christ Jesus. Wm. A. Wood.
Darlington, Wis.