Whither Are they Drifting?
By Chas. Stratton
For more than twenty years, I was associated with the Christian denomination, attended their business meetings, and was therefore well acquainted with their principles and practices. The founders were men of sterling worth. They would not yield the prominent points of doctrine on which their faith was built, though their lives should pay the forfeit. The literal resurrection from the dead and baptism by immersion, were always strongly contested points with other sects who did not believe thus. I have good reasons for believing that a lamentable change has taken place within a few years. I will state some of them. A popular minister, who has been preaching to a Christian church in a large village near by, was called out into the country to preach a funeral sermon. He attempted to tell us what man was, and in doing so said that the real man was moving about in this tenement, or vehicle, which he rode in, but when he changed this life for the higher life, he would leave this vehicle, because he would have no more use for it, and that he himself had long since got gloriously over the idea of a resurrection of these old bodies. Another instance of departure from their faith, which I did not witness, but received from good authority, surprised me even more. A lady, whom the Christian church wished to join them, and who, it seems, desired to do so, could not consent to be immersed. She preferred sprinkling. The minister said this was not their mode of baptism; but if sprinkling would satisfy the sister’s conscience, they ought be clever and administer it. He did so, and she united with the church. I will here give an extract from a tract written by D. P. Pike, on baptism, who edited the Christian paper for a long time: “Look at the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of his person, entering the river Jordan, and bowing beneath its waters, the emblem of his future grave. This should silence every objection to the practice of immersion. If the sight of Christ in Jordan is not sufficient, let us see the Holy Ghost descending, and hear the Father testify in approbation upon his submission to this sacred rite. “Never was an ordinance so honored. Here is a dignity given to it infinitely exceeding any of the rites of the Old Testament. The blessed Redeemer submits to be baptized. The Father, at the instant of his rising from the water, calls him his beloved Son, in whose conduct he is well pleased; and the divine Spirit, at the same instant, descends upon him in a visible form. How overwhelming to have witnessed this scene. Nothing since the commencement of time has equaled in sublimity and glory this wonderful event. Who that loves Christ can refuse to walk in his footsteps?” Whether this extract is all truth or not, it shows his attachment to the right mode of baptism. How fast apostasy is creeping into the churches! We are led to inquire, What next? We do know that at length and at last the churches that reject the third angel’s message will be overwhelmed with error and sink to rise no more. I rejoice that the cry was ever heard, Come out of her, my people. It is a fearful thing to turn away from the last message of mercy. May the Lord help me to obey it.